USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Warwick in Bucks County > History of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church of Warwick, Hartsville, Bucks County, Pa., 1726-1876 > Part 16
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Resolved, That the departure of our Pastor from us on the present occasion deeply impresses on us the recollection of his untiring efforts to promote the spiritual welfare of this branch of the vine of the kingdom of Christ, and his sincere desire to lead us to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
Resolved, That we congratulate our Pastor upon the sufficient evidence of his industry and usefulness among us, afforded by the increase of living witnesses of the truth during his ministration ; the attachment and affection prevailing among the congregation ; the beauty of the church edifice; the general and constant attend- ance at places of public worship, and the elevated tone of religious, literary, and moral sentiment prevailing in the community.
Resolved, That we tender to our Pastor our most earnest wishes for his spiritual and temporal welfare, and sincerely desire that before the throne of grace and in his own heart we still may be held in affectionate remembrance.
Messrs. Nathan Mckinstry, Joseph Carrell and Joseph Carr were appointed Commissioners to carry the resigna- tion of the Pastor, and the acceptance of it by the congre- gation, to the Presbytery.
The dissolution of Mr. Wilson's pastoral relation to the
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Church at Neshaminy was made by the Fourth Presbytery of Philadelphia, to take effect June 30, 1847.
He remained at the head of the College in Delaware three years, when he was called to the pastorate of the Central Presbyterian Church, Northern Liberties, Phila- delphia. Here he was highly esteemed for his work's sake. The congregation grew and flourished under his care; but at the expiration of three years, he was sum- moned by the Trustees of Union Theological Seminary, in New York City, to take the Chair of Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology. Preferring, however, the labors of the Pastor, he remained in this Professorship but three years, when he was invited to the charge of a newly- formed congregation, called the "South Park Presbyte- rian Church," in Newark, N. J., where he has been successfully devoting his energies to the upbuilding of Christ's kingdom for the past nineteen years.
.He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania in 1848.
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CHAPTER XX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOSEPH HART.
One of the members of the congregation, of whom it seems proper to speak particularly, was Joseph Hart. He was the son of Col. William Hart, and was born in Harts- ville (which village was named for his family) in 1792. He filled the post of Deputy Clerk of the Orphan's Court of Bucks County for several years, while the County Offices were at Newtown, and was then esteemed a very correct and upright young man. He married Miss Mary Carr of Hartsville, and having been engaged in mer- cantile business in Philadelphia for a considerable period, he at length permanently fixed his residence in the former place, the home of his childhood and youth, and super- intended the cultivation of his farm. He was one of the Trustees of Neshaminy Church, repeatedly re-elected for many terms, and its Treasurer from 1841 to 1860, when he resigned the office, ill health and the infirmities of years requiring release from all unnecessary care. He left in his will $100 to aid in the construction of a sidewalk
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from Hartsville to the Neshaminy Church, provided the work were finished within two years after his death, and the legacy mentioned in the following codicil :
I give and bequeath $200 to be expended for a marble slab to commemorate the History of said Church with its Pastors, and any other incidents that may be considered necessary, important or in- teresting, and that the Rev. J. P. Wilson and Rev. D. K. Turner prepare the said history, and direct where it shall be placed in the church, and my will is that the said $200 be paid to the Trustees of said church, that they render all the aid necessary in placing it in the church.
The monumental slab, thus provided for, was placed in the vestibule of the church, opposite the front door, not many months after Mr. Hart's death. He was a warm friend of the church, and a constant attendant upon the ministrations of the sanctuary, even to extreme age. In the repairs and improvements of the meeting-house and the grave-yard, his taste and sound judgment were much sought and relied upon by the Trustees; and in the management of the finances of the congregation he was careful, accurate and conscientious. He died November 4, 1872, aged 82 years.
WILLIAM CARR.
Another of the prominent men of Neshaminy Congre- gation was William Carr. He was born in Warwick, September 12, 1789, and was admitted to the communion of the church during the remarkable religious interest in 1822. He was first elected a Trustee of the church in 1819, and served in that office for a number of years, and
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as Treasurer for a short period. Being appointed by Governor Wolff, of Pennsylvania, in 1831, Clerk of the Orphan's Court, he removed to Doylestown, and after his term had expired he was employed in other capacities in the public offices there a long time. A member in high standing in the Masonic Order, he became interested in the erection of the Masonic Hall in Chestnut street, Phil- adelphia, and upon transferring his residence to that city, he was employed to superintend that important work. Subsequently he resided in Allentown, Pa., where he passed the last years of his life, and died March 10, 1872, in the 83d year of his age. He was faithful to all the trusts reposed in his hands; and a man of more than usual information, particularly upon the history of his own country and the local annals of the region in which he lived. His interest in the church at Neshaminy was never lost, and among his latest acts was sending from Allentown a donation to the Trustees to aid in repairing the house in which he had so often in former years worshipped.
ROBERT DARRAH.
Robert Darrah was born in New Britain Township, February 8, 1789. He was the son of James Darrah, and grandson of Capt. Henry Darrah, who was commander of a company of soldiers in the Revolutionary War. When Robert was a boy, his father moved from New Britain to the farm in Warminster, once owned and occupied by Rev. Charles Beatty, one of the pastors of Neshaminy Church. Here he passed most of his life. During the war of 1812, with Great Britain, he served in the American army,
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being in Delaware several months, to oppose a threatened attack by the British upon Philadelphia. He married Miss Catharine Galt of Lancaster Co., Pa., and both the parents took a deep interest in the education of their children, as they grew up around them. He felt the im- portance of knowledge and mental training to the young, and built a school-house on his own grounds, which was afterwards enlarged, and in connection with Joseph Hart and others he provided a teacher, from New England or his own neighborhood, year after year for a long period. This school was of a high grade, in which several of the teachers were graduates of Yale or other colleges, and the Classics, French, and the higher branches of Mathematics were thoroughly taught. A number of young men from the vicinity were prepared in it for college, and many young ladies and gentlemen went forth from its humble walls to engage in teaching common schools.
Mr. Darrah was a liberal supporter of the Gospel, one of the Trustees of Neshaminy Church from 1841 to the time of his death, and frequently president of the Board. He did much by his credit, generosity, and personal influ- ence, at the period of the division in the congregation, to secure the purchase of the church property for that part of the people who adhered to Rev. James P. Wilson. When the church edifice was remodeled, in 1842, no one did more than he by his own labor, his horses and wagons, and his contributions, to bring the enterprise to a success- ful conclusion. Being an industrious and energetic farmer he accumulated a considerable estate, and always used his means in the interest of morality, temperance, education, and religion. In 1850 he built a house on the
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eastern part of his property near Hartsville for his own residence, where he died August 5, 1860, aged 70 years.
DR. JAMES S. RICH.
Dr. James S. Rich, born in 1795, pursued the study of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadel- phia, and was admitted to practice and received the degree of M. D., when about twenty-four years of age. He almost immediately established himself as a physician in the vicinity of Doylestown, Bucks Co., and built up a large, lucrative and successful practice, in which he was engaged for more than twenty years, when declining health obliged him to relinquish the active duties of his profession for eight years. Being restored to comfortable health by a kind Providence, he received the appointment from the City of Philadelphia of Physician at the Laza- retto on the Delaware river, below the City, and con - tinued in the faithful and laborious fulfilment of the responsibilities of that position three years, when he re- moved to Churchville, Bucks Co., and entered upon the practice of his profession there. For more than twenty years he resided in that place, useful, respected, and honored as an excellent physician, and an unusually intel- ligent citizen. During the last four or five years of his life the infirmities of age prevented his going much from home to attend the sick. He first made a public profes- sion of religion at the Central Presbyterian Church, Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Rev. Anson Rood, Pas- tor, from which he transferred his membership by letter to Neshaminy Church, January 9, 1846. His death
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occurred March 8, 1875, when he was eighty years of age. A noble man was removed when his spirit took its flight.
JAMES A. DARRAH.
During the pastorate of Mr. Wilson, James A. Darrah, son of Robert Darrah, was one of the young men under his care who afterwards became a Minister of the Gospel in the Presbyterian Church. He was born in Warmins- ter, near Hartsville, on the property which once be- longed to Rev. Charles Beatty, in the year 1821. He united with Neshaminy Church in youth ; prepared for college at schools in the neighborhood of his home, and after pursuing the usual course of study at Nassau Hall, Princeton, graduated at that institution in 1840. He had his mind turned during most of the years of his academical and collegiate course toward the practice of Law, and with that in view he became a student in the office of Judge Fox, in Doylestown, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney, September 9th, 1843. But not feeling satisfied that he was in the path of duty in this profession, and his heart prompting him to preach the everlasting Gospel, he entered the Theological Seminary of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., and was there most of three years, being meantime licensed to preach by the Fourth Presbytery of Philadelphia, September 23, 1846. For some months after the close of the regular curriculum of study he labored as a Missionary in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia, and then bent his steps toward Missouri ; the "Great West " seeming to call upon him to take part in shaping its destinies. About that time
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it was desired to establish a College near St. Louis, at Rockhill, which was subsequently called " Webster Col- lege," after the great " expounder of the Constitution." Mr. Darrah was invited to become Stated Supply of the Rockhill Presbyterian Church, and to be Principal of the Preparatory Department of the College. Having been ordained by the Presbytery of St. Louis, October 3, 1849, he labored here faithfully and successfully in connection with the Church and College nine years. In the course of Providence, after supplying the church in Troy, Illi- nois, for a short period, he was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in West Ely, Missouri. When he went to this place, the farm formerly owned by Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D. D., and the house which the Doctor built on it for his own residence, were for sale. The dwelling was one of several unusually good houses which were erected for the Professors in the Theological Semi- nary, that Dr. Ely attempted to establish in Missouri. The enterprise was in advance of the age, and after a few years was given up, with a great pecuniary loss to those who originated it. After Dr. Ely's death, the property on which he resided temporarily was bought by Mr. Darrah, who has lived there and been Pastor of the Pres- byterian Church since April 17, 1859.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WRIGHT.
Benjamin Franklin Wright was born in Warrington, Pa., August 30, 1808. He resided in Hartsville and Greene Co., Pa., till 1847, when he removed to Philadel- phia. In 1855 the suburbs and rural districts of the County of Philadelphia were consolidated under one
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city government. The next year, 1856, he was elected to the Common Council. After being two years in this office, he resigned, and was appointed Building Inspector of the city, in which capacity he served three years, and subsequently being appointed by the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, he served as Building Inspec- tor eleven years more, at a period when Philadelphia was growing in size and population with rapidity une- qualed in its history, and when the labors and responsi- bilities of the office were very arduous. During this period, he was chosen again a member of the Common Council. He was in important positions in the city more than sixteen years, and was widely esteemed and respected. Having lost several members of his family by death, the remains of all of whom were buried at Nesham- iny, he took a deep interest in the erection of the chapel at the grave-yard in 1871, as will appear in a subsequent part of this volume. Unexpectedly to all his friends his death occurred suddenly in Philadelphia, March 6, 1876, when he was in the sixty-eighth year of his age. After appropriate funeral services in the city and in the ceme- tery chapel at Neshaminy, his body was interred there among his kindred.
GEORGE W. HART.
George W. Hart, son of John and Mary Hart, of War- minster, Bucks Co., was one of the youth of Neshaminy. He was prompted by a desire for learning, to obtain a liberal education, and pursued his preparatory studies in the vicinity of his home. He entered the Sophomore Class in Yale College in 1844, and spending three years in that institution, graduated in 1847 with the creditable
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reputation of a faithful student and a superior scholar. Still incited by a longing for information and for knowl- edge of the manners and customs of foreign lands, he travelled extensively after his graduation, visiting Cali- fornia, Australia, China, and other regions ; but at length, fixed his residence and engaged in mercantile business in Philadelphia, where he married and now lives, a useful citizen and an upright man.
THE MCKINSTRY FAMILY.
For a long period of years one family, among others that deserve particular notice, was connected with the congregation, that of Robert Mckinstry, Sen. In 1847 and for a number of years previously, five sons of his, John, Robert, Nathan, James, and Henry, and their sister Jane, were all members of the Church and lived in the same vicinity. In 1850, and some years subsequently, John and Nathan resided in the same house, the latter of whom was married and had a family around him. Ad- joining them James resided, and adjoining his farm was the property of Henry. John was during a long period one of the Trustees, and Nathan and Henry were both Elders. Another brother, William, resided in Ohio. All the children of the elder Robert McKinstry were asso- ciated with the people of God, and honored the Christian profession. In the house of Nathan and John, in conse- quence partly of the feeble health of some of the members of the family, meetings for preaching were held fre- quently on some evening in the middle of the week, through the space of twenty-five or thirty years or more, between 1840 and 1870, in the pastorates of Mr. Wilson
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and Mr. Turner, and many were the sweet seasons of refreshing contemplation of divine truth and communion with God and his friends, that were enjoyed under that roof. One of the sons of Nathan is an Elder in a Presby- terian Church in Ohio. The different branches of this family-connection having their homes in the extreme western part of the congregation, near the "County Line " School-house, sustained principally by their own efforts and personal instruction the Sabbath-school taught in that building for more than a generation. The Lord remem- bers mercy toward them that fear him, and to their chil- dren's children.
CHAPTER XXI.
PASTORATE OF REV. D. K. TURNER.
For some months after the termination of Mr. Wilson's Pastorate the pulpit was filled on the Sabbath by supplies appointed by the Presbytery, and other Clergymen. On the 6th of March, 1848, a meeting of the congregation was held for the election of a Pastor, at which, by request of the Session and some of the members of the Fourth Pres- bytery of Philadelphia, Rev. John Patton of Philadelphia presided. Having preached a sermon appropriate to the occasion, he procedeed to act as Moderator of the election.
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George Jamison was appointed Secretary. The choice was by ballot according to custom, and when the ballots were counted, it appeared that by an almost unanimous vote, which was then made unanimous, Rev. Douglas K. Turner was chosen Pastor .*
Messrs. Joseph Carr, William Long, Jr., John C. Beans, Nathan Mckinstry, William H. Long, and John Polk, were appointed Commissioners to sign the call on behalf of the congregation and prosecute it before the Fourth Presbytery of Philadelphia.
On the 12th of April Mr. Turner was received under the care of the Presbytery as a licentiate, the call was put into his hands, and he signified his acceptance of it. April 17th, he was examined by the Presbytery at an adjourned meeting at Neshaminy, and the ordination was appointed for the next day, April 18th. The Exercises of the Ordination and Installation were as follows: Prayer by Rev. C. S. Conkling of Mount Pleasant, N. J .; Sermon by Rev. Albert Barnes of Philadelphia; Constitutional Questions proposed and ordaining prayer by Rev. David
* Mr. Turner was born in Stockbridge, Mass., December 17, 1823, but resided most of the years of his youth with his parents in Hartford, Conn. He graduated at Yale College, New Haven, Conn., in 1843, and after teaching a year in Hartford, studied Theology in the Theological Seminaries of Andover, Mass., and New Haven, Conn. He was licensed to preach by the Hampden East Congregational Association of Massachusetts in 1846, and in the autumn of the same year came to Neshaminy to teach a Clas- sical and Select School. He was engaged in this position about eighteen months, when he was elected to the pastorate of the Church.
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Malin, Moderator ; Charge to the Pastor by Rev. Samuel M. Gould of the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia ; and charge to the people by Rev. Joel Parker, D. D., of Phila- delphia.
August 18, 1848 a meeting of the congregation was held for the election of Elders. The Pastor was chosen Moderator and William H. Long, Esq., Secretary. Matthew Wilson, Henry Mckinstry, and John C. Beans were nominated for the office of Elder, but as they did not deem it their duty at that time to accept, the meeting adjourned to the first Thursday in October.
On that day, October 5th, the congregation again con- vened, Rev. James A. Darrah was appointed Chairman, and Joseph Hart, Secretary. The following nominations were made for election to the Eldership, viz .: Matthew Wilson, John C. Beans, Henry Mckinstry, and John McNair. The election was by ballot, and resulted in the choice of all who were nominated.
The first two brethren named not feeling it their privilege to serve in that capacity, on the second Sabbath after the election, October 15, Henry McKinstry and John McNair, after a sermon appropriate to the occasion by the Pastor, were ordained with prayer to be ruling Elders, and the right hand of fellowship was given them by the Ses- sion in presence of the congregation.
In consequence of the purchase of the church property, and the extensive repairs of the house of worship made in 1842, for several years after that time a heavy debt rested upon the congregation. Something was done toward its liquidation every year, but in 1848 more than two thou- sand dollars still remained unpaid, including arrears of the
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Pastor's salary. It was then resolved by the Trustees to make an effort to remove this pecuniary obligation en- tirely. The matter was presented to the congregation, and in the course of a few weeks all the money necessary was subscribed and the debt entirely liquidated.
Neshaminy Church previous to 1849 had never pos- sessed a lecture-room. Religious meetings had often been held in the school-house, which stood in the grave-yard, and in other school-houses in various parts of the wide district over which the congregation extended, and Sab- bath-schools were maintained regularly during the sum- mer in these buildings. In the pastorate of Rev. J. P. Wilson a school-house erected on his own grounds for the classical school, of which he was Principal, had been employed as a lecture-room. But when he sold his property and removed to Delaware it was found necessary to have a building erected, which should belong to the church, and be used for lectures, conference and prayer- meetings, and Sabbath-schools. It was deemed important that the location of it should be in Hartsville, though this was some distance from the church, as it would be more central and convenient for the services which would ordinarily be held in it. Mr. Thomas Bird, formerly of Philadelphia, but then a resident of Warminster, owned a farm, on which his son, Charles Bird, lived, a portion of which was in the village, and which contained a lot very desirable for the purpose. He gave the lot, containing 35 perches and eight-tenths of a perch of land, by deed to the Trustees of the church ; and aided by liberal contri- butions the Ladies' Society of the congregation, who raised by fairs and in other ways nearly all the money
VAN INGEN -- SNYDER
NESHAMINY LECTURE ROOM, HARTSVILLE.
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expended in the erection of the building. His lady, Mrs. Bird-afterwards the wife of Rev. William Patton, D. D., of New Haven, Conn.,-was the President of the Society ; and it was largely due to her personal influence, management, energy, and liberality, that the necessary funds were secured and the work was brought to a suc- cessful termination. The lecture-room is a neat stone structure, thirty feet wide by forty feet long, with a small vestibule, and will seat about two hundred persons. It has a lofty ceiling, and has been much used for the in- struction of singing-classes, for which its acoustic proper- ties well adapt it. The whole cost of the building, furniture, and enclosure of the lot was about $2,000. It was erected in 1849.
In former times there was a log school-house just out- side the grave-yard, north-east of the spot on which the present chapel stands. This log structure was built so firmly that when it became desirable to take it down, its demolition was no easy task. It was replaced about the year 1824 by a stone school-house, which stood many years, and in which a large number of the children of the vicinity were taught by different teachers, among whom were A. Prior, Mahlon Long, Samuel Hart, and Miss Caroline Downer, afterwards Mrs. C. Whiting, wife of Timothy Whiting. This lady being a sweet singer, taught her pupils vocal music as well as other branches. From this school-house a wall extended in a westerly di- rection to the Bristol road, enclosing the burying-ground on the south side. A considerable piece of land, perhaps a quarter of an acre, was left unenclosed, sloping toward the road, on which were posts, and where it was customary
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to tie horses at funerals. In 1851 this wall had be- come much dilapidated by time, and it was resolved by the Trustees, September 25, to build a new wall along the road and on the east side and enclose the open space, that it might be laid out in grave lots or planted with trees. The committee appointed to make arrangements for and superintend this work was composed of the following: persons, viz. : John C. Beans, Robert Darrah and Joseph Hart. Their task was completed in 1852 at an expense of $350, which was met by a general subscription in the congregation.
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