USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Warwick in Bucks County > History of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church of Warwick, Hartsville, Bucks County, Pa., 1726-1876 > Part 9
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November, 1783, when by the depreciation of the Conti- mental money he lost all the property he had inherited from his father, and was left without means, and in great perplexity as to what business he should engage in. He was in Philadelphia looking for employment in vain, when he concluded he might support himself by teaching in some place in the country. He saw a large wagon loading with goods in Market Street, and entered into conversation with the owner, who encouraged him to hope that he might find an opening for a school in the town from which he came, which was on the Susque- hanna, above Northumberland. He made a bargain with the man to take himself and his baggage, and was making haste to get ready to go, as he was to start that afternoon, when he met an officer who had been with him in the army. He told him what he had thought of doing, when the officer said they needed a clerk in the War Office to settle up the accounts of the Pennsylvania Line, and "You," said he, "are the very man for the place. Wait, till I run around and see." The result was, that in about an hour he received the appointment. This he always regarded as a turning point in his history. He remained in the War Office eight months, and by his experience and the position he was in, he was enabled to secure the rank of First Lieutenant in the army, and went West with his corps in 1785. For several years he was Acting Paymaster in the Western Army, and in prosecution of his duties frequently visited Philadel- phia and New York, and conferred with the Secretary of War, in regard to furnishing supplies to the United States troops.
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Dr. C. C. Beatty says :
"During a part of 1789 and 1790 he was for nearly two years, commandant at Post St. Vincent's, now Vin- cennes, on the Wabash; where the settlers were old French, not very well affected to the Federal Govern- ment. He had instructions to conciliate them, and was remarkably successful, having great personal popularity, of which his son was a witness when he visited that community more than thirty years afterwards, the old French inhabitants receiving him, on his father's account, with great kindness. Col. Vigo embraced him in true French fashion, saying, 'Your father introduce me to Gen. Washington, the President, the greatest honor of my life.'"
Lieutenant Beatty, having previous to his taking com- mand at Post St. Vincent attained the rank of Captain, soon after coming there was promoted to that of Major He was paymaster in the army while here, as he had been before, and was careful and accurate in keeping his accounts. In illustration of this, his son, Dr. C. C. Beatty, relates the following incident which occurred when the latter was a young man :
" During a missionary tour he made on the Wabash in 1822 he was recommended to stop with Major W., the Collector of the Land Office of Terre Haute, then a small village. He called, and was received, as he thought, rather coolly. After supper, as they were sitting on opposite sides of the fire, some reference was made by Mr. B. to his father as having been connected with the Western Army. "What,' said Major W. 'are you the son of Major Beatty, who was Paymaster?' 'Yes.' 'Then,' said Major W., jumping up, ' I
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am very glad to see you.' 'I suppose you knew my father, said the young clergyman. 'Never saw him in my life,' was the reply,-' but I have seen his accounts, as I was Paymaster some years after, and more perfect accounts I never saw. And, sir, I have always had a great respect for him on that account. Yes, sir, I have great respect for Major Beatty, and if you are his son I am glad to see you.' Upon the strength of this he was very hospitably entertained whenever in Terre Haute, though the Major could never be got out to hear him preach, as he said he must stay at home to keep watch over the public money, while his wife could go to meeting."
In 1793 Major Beatty resigned his office in the army, and the general order accepting his resignation, given by Gen. Wayne, speaks in flattering terms of his conduct, as Paymaster, officer and gentleman, and of his long service as "meriting the gratitude and approbation of his coun- try." In a private letter Gen. Wayne also expressed similar sentiments.
The next year he was induced by his eldest brother, who resided then at Princeton, N. J., to purchase a farm near that town, which had belonged to Captain Howard, a half-pay officer in the British army. This officer "had resided there for some time previously to the Revolutionary War, and probably built the main part of the stone mansion house, which, with additions put up by Col. Beatty, is still standing. Capt. Howard was a decided and warm Whig, but alinost laid up with the gout, which confined him to his room. His wife was of different sentiments, and he was often exceedingly vexed by her entertainment of British officers, whose conversation was very obnoxious.
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to him; so that he had painted in large letters over the mantel-piece in his room: 'No Tory talk here.' This, though covered with whitewash, was plainly discernible twenty years after." Capt. Howard died during the Rev- olutionary War, his widow returned to England, and when the farm had gone to decay under tenants, Major Beatty bought it of the heirs, who lived in England.
Major Beatty was elected Colonel of a regiment of militia in Middlesex and Somerset Counties, and bore the title through the remainder of his life. During the war of 1812 he was appointed by the Governor of the State, Inspector General of the Militia in service.
In 1799 he was married to Mrs. Susanna Ferguson, of Philadelphia. He was for some time Justice of the Peace, Judge of the County Court, and for many years a member of the Legislature from Middlesex County, either in the Assembly or Council. He was warmly interested in the passage by the Legislature of the general School Law, and urged the adoption of it in private and in pub- lic, and had the satisfaction of seeing it go into effect the year in which he died. He was honored by his fellow citizens with many offices in civil life and in various societies, and was Trustee, and President of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Church in Princeton for a long time. Toward the last part of his life he became a member in full communion of the Church, having been led by a severe affliction in the loss of a beloved daughter to dedicate himself publicly to the service of the Redeem- er. He moved into the centre of the town of Princeton in 1816, for the convenience of having his eldest son in College, where he died February 3, 1823.
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The following inscription on his tombstone in Prince- ton Cemetery was written by Rev. Dr. Miller :
IN MEMORY OF
COLONEL ERKURIES BEATTY,
WHO WAS BORN
OCTOBER 9, A. D. 1759,
And who, after having faithfully served his country in various important stations, civil and military, departed this life in the faith and hope of the Gospel,
FEBRUARY 3, A. D. 1823, IN THE 64TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
A firm patriot, a brave soldier, an upright legislator, an active and vigilant magistrate; a public spirited and use- ful citizen ; an honest man; a sincere Christian; and in all the relations of domestic life, amiable and beloved.
One of his three children is the Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D. D., of Steubenville, Ohio, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, (O. S.) in the United States, 1862, and Chairman of the Joint Commit- tee of Thirty, of the Old and New School Assemblies, at the Re-union, 1869.
IX. The ninth child of Rev. C. Beatty was George, born June 28th, 1763, and named after the King of Eng- land, " whose coronation his father had witnessed in 1760. He was probably kept at school in the neighborhood of Neshaminy some years after his father's death, as would appear from a letter," which is still in existence, and which was written to his brother John, about 1775. In it he speaks of living at "Giles Craven's," and says,
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" Giles Craven has given me my clothes, and good part of my schooling," no doubt for his work as a boy on the farm. He was there in December, 1778, and wrote in a letter to his sister that he had been out in the militia for two or three weeks. It is said on the authority of tradition, that he went to sea on a "Letter of Marque Ship," and was not heard of for some months. He is reported to have been in command of a vessel in 1785, trading between Nova Scotia and the West Indies. After that year nothing more is known of him.
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X. The tenth child of Rev. C. Beatty was William Pitt, who was born March 31, 1766, and named for the eminent British statesman who rendered himself popular in America by opposing the oppressive measures of the English Government towards the Colonies. At the death of his father he was only six years old, and remained in the neighborhood of Neshaminy, probably under the guardianship of Mr. Erwin, one of the executors of his father's estate. When fourteen or fifteen years old he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tailor in Philadel- phia, and eight years after, in 1790, he established him- self in that business at Neshaminy. Being able to write a good hand, and being an accurate accountant, he was appointed in 1793 a clerk in the office of J. Nicholson, Comptroller of the State of Pennsylvania. He was after- wards clerk of the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Co., and in mercantile business at Wright's Ferry, on the Susquehanna, now Columbia.
In 1799, November 8th, he was married by Rev. N. Irwin, to Eleanor Polk of Neshaminy, who was the only child of John Polk and Rebecca Gilbert. Her father
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died when she was quite young, " and her mother marry- ing again, to a Mr. Gilkeson, she was taken and raised by her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Gilbert, with whom she lived till her marriage. She was born December 26, 1775, and died September 21, 1845. She was a Christian woman, a most excellent wife and mother, useful in society and the church."* In the spring of 1800 she and her husband, William Beatty, settled at Columbia, and continued to reside there " till near the close of their joint married life, and both are buried there." He was many years, at two different periods, Post Master of Columbia ; he was Justice of the Peace, Secretary and Treasurer of the Susquehanna Improvement Company, and held the same offices in the York and Susquehanna Turnpike Co., and in 1811 in the Columbia Bridge Company, and was Cashier of the Bank established in connection with the latter institution. He was at one time Chief Burgess of the Borough, and Treasurer of the Water Company, and had the oversight of the engineering and construction of the Turnpike between Columbia and Marietta.
He hopefully became a Christian early in life, and continued interested and active in the cause of religion until old age. When he went to Columbia there were but few Presbyterians in the town, but he encouraged them to meet for worship, and did much to keep the little company together, when they enjoyed occasionally the ministerial services of Rev. N. Snowden, then at Lancaster. The church was organized in 1807, and Mr. Beatty was chosen and ordained a Ruling Elder. He was energetic in efforts and liberal in contributions toward
* Record of the Beatty Family.
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the erection of a meeting-house, which was completed in 1812. For a number of years they had preaching but part of the time, and on Sabbaths, when no minister was present, he frequently led the meeting, and very generally read the sermon from some volume of discourses. For more than a quarter of a century he led the singing, having a clear, musical voice, and was the Superintendent of the Sabbath School for a long period; and before Sabbath Schools were established he instructed the youth in catechetical classes. The last few years of his life he lived with some of his children in Philadelphia, where he died July 28, 1848, and was interred at Columbia.
The following inscription is on his tombstone.
IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM P. BEATTY,
For more than thirty-six years a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church in this place.
DIED JULY 28, 1848,
IN THE 83D YEAR OF HIS AGE.
"He looked for a city, which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Hebrews xi. 10.
He had nine children, one of whom, George, was for a number of years Secretary and Treasurer of the Northern Railway of Canada ; another, William Pitt, was Collector and General Superintendent of the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad in Harrisburg; another, Ann Eliza, became the wife of Thomas H. Pearce, who was connected for a considerable period of time with the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad ; another, Erkuries,
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founder and machinist in Carlisle, was brevetted Major and Lieutenant Colonel "for bravery and meritorious services " during the late war with the Confederate Southern States.
XI. The eleventh child of Rev. C. Beatty, named Ann, was born in Greenock, Scotland, where her mother was, (as before mentioned) for the benefit of her health, in March, 1768, and died there when but a few weeks old, and was buried with her mother.
A brief account has thus been given of the children of Rev. Charles Beatty, and a very honorable record it is. Of but few families could so much be told that is praiseworthy and merits being perpetuated in the annals of the past. Four of his sons were officers in the army during our Revolutionary struggle with Great Britain. Of eight children who reached mature years, all but one were hopefully pious, and members of the Presbyterian Church; and three, John, Reading, and William, were Ruling Elders. Several of his sons occupied positions of eminent distinction and usefulness in society and in the State.
CHAPTER XII.
REV. NATHANIEL IRWIN.
After the death, in a distant island, of Rev. C. Beatty, Neshaminy Church was destitute of a pastor about two
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years. At length a call was given to Rev. Nathaniel Irwin, May 1, 1774. Mr. Irwin was born at Fagg's Manor, Chester Co., Pa., October 18, 1746. He graduated at Princeton College, N. J., in 1770. During his college course, on the 24th of June, 1769, in company with James Madison, the only President of the United States ever graduated at that Institution ; Samuel Stanhope Smith, afterwards President of the College of New Jer- sey ; William Bradford, who became one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and Attorney General of the United States under President Washing- ton ; General John Beatty, son of Rev. Charles Beatty, and member of the Continental and Federal Congresses ; John Henry, Governor of Maryland, and member of the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States; Rev. Caleb Wallace, who was also Chief Justice of Ken- tucky ; Gunning Bedford, a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and also a Judge of the District Court of the United States ; Hugh H. Brackenridge, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ; Philip Freneau, a patriotic poet in our Revolution ; and some others ; Mr. Irwin founded the American Whig Society, in an upper room of Nassau Hall. In this he was associated with those who subsequently became highly distinguished for talents, learning, and dignity of character, and who occupied the loftiest posi- tions in the gift of their country. No doubt his inter- course with such minds during the years of study, in which he was preparing for the struggles and duties of mature life, tended to increase his intellectual strength and acuteness, which were naturally of the first order.
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Either before or after his graduation he taught an academy at Princeton, probably after that event; and at the same time pursued the study of theology. ' In the printed " Minutes of the Synod of New York and New Jersey," it is stated, May 19, 1773, that the "New Castle Presbytery report, they have licensed Messrs. Samuel Stanhope Smith, Nathaniel Irwin, Robert Davidson, Samuel Dougal, and James Power ;" from which it ap- pears that Mr. Irwin was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1772, or early in 1773, by the Presbytery of New Castle, and probably at the same meeting with President Smith, as they had been intimately associated during their colle- giate course. 'After his licensure he was temporarily preaching in some of the central portions of Pennsylva- nia and Virginia, which were then but thinly inhabited, and to a great extent a missionary field .* But ere long he was invited to come and occupy the pulpit at Neshaminy as a. candidate for the pastorate. He came among the people with little except his horse and his Bible. But his reputation as a student in College was of a superior character ; he had a noble and commanding appearance, being tall and well formed, and of an intelligent and en- gaging countenance; his preaching was of a high order and delivered in an animated yet solemn manner with a powerful voice, and the congregation were so much
* For this service, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, in 1775, ordered their Treasurer to "pay to Mr. Irwin nine pounds, nine shillings, and three pence, on account of his mission on the Western Frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia." This sum was about $25.17.
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pleased with him, likewise, as they met him in social inter- course, that he was soon invited to assume the pastoral charge. Though the call was made out in the Spring, he was not ordained until the Autumn. He took suitable time to consider the invitation, and having decided to accept it, he was set apart to the full exercise of the office of a Minister of the Gospel, and installed Pastor of the church by the First Presbytery of Philadelphia, Novem- ber 3, 1774. In the church records it is stated, "He is to have for a yearly support in his ministry from said congregation the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds, until said congregation provide a parsonage for Mr. Irwin, and after a parsonage is provided, ye sum of one hundred pounds yearly." The manse was not purchased during his pastorate, and the salary continued, as stated above, £130, Pennsylvania currency, or about $346, until 1798, when it was increased to one hundred and seventy pounds, or about $452. After being some years at Neshaminy, Mr. Irwin purchased a farm on the road from Doyles- town to Philadelphia, about two and a half miles from the church, where he resided till his death. In the year 1809 he erected near the road, on a beautiful site, a little distance from the original dwelling, a mansion-house, which was more costly and in better style than most houses in the region at that day. This mansion is still standing, much in the same condition as when he resided in it; but it was somewhat enlarged about the year 1858 by Perry McNeille, Esq., who had removed thither from Philadelphia a few years previously. Its walls of finely finished dressed stone, which have endured without material change the storms of sixty-five years, show that
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Mr. Irwin possessed good taste and correct views in regard to architecture.
In the year 1775, soon after his ordination, the church edifice was considerably enlarged to afford room for an in- creasing congregation. As there was then no church at the place which is now Doylestown, nor for a distance of eight or ten miles west and south, people often came to Neshaminy on horseback or on foot six or seven miles or more to attend worship on the Sabbath. Women frequently walked that distance, some with their shoes in their hands, and when they reached a spring near the meeting-house, they washed their feet, put on their shoes, and entered the sanctuary, unlike Moses, who put off his shoes when on holy ground.
In the last part of the eighteenth century physicians were much less numerous than they are now, and Mr. Irwin often prescribed for the sick, who sought his advice. In a manuscript book, which contains partly his own individual accounts, and partly those of the corpora- tion of the church, we find that he has charged several persons at different times with " medicine," "a vomit," " a purge," " a blister plaister," " dose salts," &c., which he had furnished them. He also wrote wills, bonds and deeds, settled estates and transacted much business which is not usually attended to by clergymen at the present day. The liberally educated, and such as were familiar with forms of law, were comparatively few in the commu- nity. The County seat was then at Newtown, twelve miles distant from his home. IIe was endowed with a strong mind, sound judgment, and much natural acute- ness, and was resorted to by the people of his congrega-
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tion, and by others, for advice and assistance in their pecuniary affairs, the transfer of landed property, and the adjustment of difficulties. Widows and orphans found in him a friend and trusted counsellor. He wielded a powerful influence over the members of his charge, and throughout the whole region in which he lived. He was deeply interested in the welfare of his country, and took an open and prominent stand on the side of the liberty of the Colonies and their independence of Great Britain. The Revolutionary War took place during the first part of his pastorate, when he was in the prime of his man- hood, and he encouraged the men of his congregation to enlist in the army in defence of their rights. He was noted for his spirited appeals in favor of liberty, and was the object of much hostility on the part of the British and the Tories. Many of the denomination of Friends of that period sympathized with Great Britain, or en- deavored to maintain an attitude of neutrality. They were opposed, by the principles of their Society, to all war, and hence stood so much aloof from efforts to aid in the struggle with the mother country, that they practi- cally, and in some cases intentionally, assisted those who would oppress their native land. There were a number of Friends' Meetings in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and some of their members were inimical to Mr. Irwin on account of his advocacy in public and private of the Federal cause. Presbyterians as a body were devoted to the principles of civil and religious liberty, and he possessed their spirit in large measure. It is reported that on a certain Sabbath news came to the congregation, as they were assembling at the church for worship, that
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the British were coming, and Mr. Irwin had only time to give them an earnest exhortation to resist the foe to the full extent of their ability, and to commend them to the God of the afflicted and oppressed, the " God of battles," when he was compelled to escape on horseback for his life.
The sympathy, which the ministry of the Presbyterian Church felt for the United Colonies in their contest with England, is illustrated by many facts. From which I mention the following :
In May, 1775, the Synod of New York and Philadel- phia met in the City of New York, and Mr. Irwin at- tended for the first time as a member, having been or- dained in the fall of the year before. The war for liberty appeared then imminent ; indeed it had already begun. The battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts had taken place. The alarm had sounded throughout the country, and the militia had generally taken up arms. The Synod, " considering the present alarming state of public affairs," as it is said in the Records, appointed the last Thursday of June to be carefully and religiously observed by all the congregations within their bounds, as a season of solemn fasting, humiliation, and prayer. But as the Conti- mental Congress was then in session, and it was thought would appoint such a day, the Presbyterian churches were recommended to observe the day designated by Congress, if it was earlier than the last Thursday of June, and if later, they were directed to observe both. The Synod also earn- estly recommended all the congregations under their care to spend the afternoon of the last Thursday of every month in public solemn prayer to God during the con-
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tinuance of the hostilities. They likewise appointed, early in the sessions of that meeting, a committee to pre- pare a Pastoral Letter to the Churches, with Dr. Wither- spoon as Chairman, who reported a letter,-five hundred copies of which were to be printed and distributed,-ex- pressing warm attachment to the Union of the Colonies, opposition to the oppressive measures of the British Min- istry, and a sense of dependence upon God for success, and urging the people to deprecate his anger by repentance for all public and private sins, and to fly to him as their refuge by humble faith. They declared likewise their allegiance to King George, their attachment to the prin- ciples by which his family was seated on the throne, and their desire for reconciliation with him, if their rights could be preserved. This was more than a year previous to the Declaration of Independence, and the war was begun with the idea entertained by most, that it should be carried on not for separation from Britain, but for the defence of Colonial rights. From the sentiments of re- spect and affection for the royal family of England con- tained in the Pastoral, Rev. Jeremiah Halsey stands alone on the Records, as the only one who dissented.
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