History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 98

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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congregation until his death, April 11, 1789, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. In 1762, the Rev. William Marshall was appointed by the Associate (anti-Bur- gher) Synod missionary to America. He first settled at Deep Run, in Bucks County. He was born about 1740, in Fifeshire, Scotland, and was licensed to preach in 1762. In February, 1764, he preached at a hall in Videll's Alley, used by the Ancient York Masons as a lodge-room, and subsequently continued in the service of the persons who formed the small congregation which worshiped in that place. They are said to have afterward used a vendue-store and frame house on Shippen Street ; but whether the latter was the building in which Mr. Telfair preached is not now known. In 1768 the persons belonging to this small congregation gave Mr. Marshall a call to be their pastor, which he accepted with the limitation that his installation should be delayed until the Lord would give him further light about it. He entered on his duties at once at a salary of eighty pounds, Pennsylvania currency. He became pastor formally 1 in 1771. In 1770 they purchased a lot of ground on the south side of Spruce Street, between Third and Fourth, upon which a building was erected in 1771 -72. It is probable that the congregation of the church on Shippen Street were at that time or pre- viously united with them, since the title to the ground on Shippen Street-still occupied as a burying- ground-is in the congregation of the church on Spruce Street, which received the name of the Scots' Presbyterian Church. The building and lot cost about three thousand nine hundred to four thou- sand dollars. Eight hundred dollars was advanced by members of the congregation, two thousand seven hundred dollars were obtained in Philadelphia by subscription, and about six hundred dollars in Baltimore and New York. The building was secured by a deed of trust to the use of persons holding the principles of the Associate Presbyterian Church. Mr. Marshall was in charge of that congregation, and re- mained in such service at the breaking out of the Revolution. A newspaper of May 25, 1772, says, "The Scots' Presbyterian Church is to be opened next Sunday," which was the 31st of May. This probably was the day of dedication. .

In 1772 the Presbyterians, in consequence of re- monstrances to the Assembly against the form of taking an oath in law proceedings, by " kissing the book," succeeded in inducing the General Assembly to pass a special law for their relief, allowing them to take oaths by the uplifted hand, etc.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary war the First Presbyterian Church, in Market Street between Second and Third, was in charge of Rev. John Ewing, and he remained there as pastor until the time of his death, in 1802. Rev. Francis Allison was associated with Mr. Ewing until his death, which occurred Nov. 28, 1779, Dr. Allison then being aged seventy-four years. Ewing and Allison were both

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connected with the College of Philadelphia. Mr. my executors, or of the survivors of them. together Ewing was instructor in philosophy in the college until its rights were taken away by act of Assembly, and the University of Pennsylvania created. In the new institution Dr. Ewing was elected provost, and when the charter was restored, and the college and university were united, he was kept at the head of the institution. His lectures were upon natural and moral philosophy. He was one of the prominent members of the American Philosophical Society, and was its vice-president for some years. Dr. Francis Allison, although assistant to Dr. Ewing, was, until the college franchises were attacked, his superior in that institution, he being vice-provost while Ewing was tutor. He had the reputation of being the best Latin scholar in America.1

In 1793 the ancient meeting-house of the First Church, commonly called the "Old Buttonwood," situate at the southeast corner of Market Street and White Horse Alley (now called Bank Street), was found to be too small for the accommodation of the congregation. It was resolved that "Old Button- wood" should be torn down, and a larger and hand- somer building erected in its place. The new church was one of the first in Philadelphia constructed upon the Greek model of architecture. The front was on Market Street, with four plain pillars, with Corinthian capitals, resting on a platform and supporting a pedi- ment, upon the architrave of which was the inscrip- tion, " Founded MDCCIV. Rebuilt MDCCXCIV." The house was eighty-eight feet long, fifty-six feet broad, and forty feet high, having galleries. There were ninety-six pews upon the floor, holding six per- sons each, and altogether one hundred and sixty- three pews, having a seating capacity for nine hun- dred persons. The ascent to the main floor of the building was by eight marble steps.

During the early period of the history of the First Church burials were made in the ground attached to the "Old Buttonwood" meeting-house, in the lot which ran southward, extending along White Horse Alley toward Chestnut Street.

In 1768, John Mease, merchant, by his will be- queathed five hundred pounds to be put out at interest by his executors; " to be by them applied toward pur- chasing a lot of ground, or part thereof, which is now inclosed around the new Presbyterian Church on Pine and Fourth Streets, for a burying-place to accommo- date the First Presbyterian Church in this city, or such of its members as may assemble for public wor- ship at the said new church. But if the majority of

with the pastors of the First Presbyterian Church in this city, judge that it would not be for the benefit of religion in general, or of the said First Presbyterian Church, to purchase the said lot of ground, in that case the said five hundred pounds shall be deemed to revert to the residue of my estate, to be hereafter dis- posed of and devised." This sum of five hundred pounds was loaned to Samuel Powel, on interest, and was paid to William Allison, executor of Mr. Mease, in 1776. The currency difficulties and obstacles to safe investments operated during the Revolutionary war against any use being made of this fund; but finally, in January, 1786, Rev. John Ewing, pastor of the First Church, and Rev. William Allison, sur- viving executor of John Mease, by a formal paper, declared that "it would be for the benefit of religion in general, and of the First Church in particular, that the lot mentioned in the will should be pur- chased as directed by Mr. Mease." This was done, and the whole of the lot on Pine Street and upon Fourth Street was apportioned by agreement and understanding between the congregations, a record of which has not been preserved. The Third Church took the ground east of the church to Fourth Street, while the First Church retained the title in the burying-ground west of the building. Burials in the First Church lot on Pine Street must have com- menced soon afterward. The Market Street ground was abandoned, and the remains of many of those interred were removed. Little was found beyond bones and skulls, most of which were removed to the ground of the First Church. Many tombstones were taken to Pine Street and placed against the southern wall, where they yet remain. These stones do not always certify that the remains of the persons com- memorated are in the ground .?

At the Second Presbyterian Church, Rev. James Sproat was nominally in charge during the Revolu- tion, but he was absent during much of the time. He was born in Scituate, Mass., April 11, 1721 (O. S.). His father was a captain and soldier under Queen Anne, and left some estate in land. James graduated at Yale, in the class of 1741. While he was a stu- dent, the Rev. Mr. Tennent came to New Haven and preached. Sproat and other students attended out of curiosity, and some in contempt. Sproat was affected by the sermon to such a degree that he afterward visited Tennent, and determined to study divinity.

1 Alle g the pupils of Dr. All's'm wire Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress ; G wernor Th mas Mi Kean, Georgo Ross, and Jan- Smith, signers of the Declaration of Independence; Hugh Willnotusing historian of North " at hina; David Ramsey, historian ef Su th Cor Inn ; Dr John Ewing, his shifttor 's the church ; Dr Latta, Hshop Wohaam White, and many more. Bisher White said that Dr. AMison wann man of unquesti halle alfifty in his department, of renl and iation 1 plety, with a proneness to anger, which was forgotten in bin p shuces and uffability.

" Among tho tombstones on the ground of the First Church of persons who died between 1775 and 1801 is that of David Rittenhouse, astron- omer, who died June 26, 1796, and his wife, who died 1799. Mr. Ritten- house was originally buried in a vault in the garden of his house at the northwest corner of Soveuth and Arch Streets. At the time of liia lotor- ment it was supposed that his burial there was to be permanent. At what time his remains were removed to Pine Street is not known. A tablet to llenry Roigel, who died Feb. 2, 1798, in his sixty-eighth year, states that ho was born at Stuttgart, Snabla, empire of Germany, and served the Elector in various public offices, particularly as commissioner of finance.

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He commenced under Rev. Jonathan Edwards. After being licensed to preach he was arrested in Connecti- cut and carried to Massachusetts, where he belonged. Rev. Samuel Finley, afterward a Presbyterian minis- ter, was sent from Connecticut to New York about the same time. At twenty-two years of age Rev. Mr. Sproat was a minister at Guilford, Conn., where he was for about twenty-five years. He came to the 'Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia March 30, 1769. At the breaking out of the Revolution he went into the Continental service as chaplain of army hospitals. During this period he was often absent from the city, and the Second Church was indiffer- ently supplied. After his duties in the army were relinquished he returned to the Second Presbyterian Church. In May, 1787, Dr. Sproat's health not being good, Rev. Ashbel Green was called to the Second Church as associate minister. He was a native of Hanover, N. J., and was born July 6, 1762. He was educated at the College of New Jersey, served during the Revolution for a time in the American army, and from 1783 to 1785 was a tutor in the New Jersey college. He became professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1785, and served until 1787, when he accepted the call to the Second Presbyterian Church. On his ordination to the Second Church, an attempt was made to harmonize differences which had long existed between the First and Second Churches upon doctrinal points, so that the old and new side should be reconciled. The churches be- longed to the same jurisdiction, but the First Pres- bytery, to which the Second and Third Churches belonged, and the Second Presbytery, to which the First Church was attached, were not cordial in their intercourse. With this purpose, Dr. Sproat, of the Second Church, presided; Dr. Ewing, of the First Church, preached the sermon; and Dr. Duffield, of the Third Church, gave the charge to pastor and people. Ewing and Duffield were personally es- tranged,-a feeling arising out of the controversies between the First and Third Churches before the Revolution. During the yellow fever of 1793, Mr. Green and his wife were attacked with the prevailing malady, and upon their convalescence they were re- moved to Princeton, N. J. Rev. Dr. Sproat remained in the city, he believing it to be his duty to his con- gregation. In the course of his labors he was in- fected, and his wife, eldest son, and youngest daughter all perished from the epidemic. Mr. Sproat himself died Oct. 18, 1793. So dreadful was the condition of affairs that it was difficult to obtain the usual obser- vances at funerals, and in many cases the dead-cart was the only vehicle and the driver the only attend- ant. In the case of Dr. Sproat, some colored men of religious inclinations offered to carry his bier. Some persons met for the purpose of prayer at the Second Church, and a procession was formed of about fifty persons, which followed the remains of the preacher to the cemetery in Arch Street, above Fifth. Dr.

Green was absent at this time. He returned Novem- ber 10th, and on Sunday, the 16th, preached a funeral sermon, which was published. Speaking of the scene afterward, he said that " it was the most solemn and effective I ever witnessed. The pulpit was hung in black, and the greater part of the audience were in mourning for their relatives or friends. I was absent for about three months. All the circumstances taken together almost overcame me and the audience. I wept through the exercises, as did the people."

By the death of Mr. Sproat the burden of the Second Church fell on Mr. Green. In order to assist him, measures were taken by the Second and Third Churches to get the services of the Rev. John Nelson Abeel. The plan to be adopted was that Mr. Abeel was to give two-thirds of his time to the Second Church and one-third to the Third Church. "It was an ill-contrived arrangement," said Dr. Green, "and did not last long." Mr. Abeel was called to Philadel- phia from the Dutch Church in New York, where he had been exceedingly popular. Afterward Mr. Abeel left the Second Church, and Dr. Green continued in it. When the yellow fever came, in 1797, he removed his family to Princeton, but remained himself in the city. The greater part of his congregation had gone away. "In general," he said, "it was the poorer part which remained; but the churches in the city, except of one Methodist, were closed, and the larger part of my audience were not of my pastoral charge. The people to whom I preached were about the one- third part of my congregation in time of health."

In 1799, Rev. Jacob J. Janeway became associate pastor of the Second Church. He was born in New York City in 1776, and was educated at Columbia College, where he graduated in 1794. He was or- dained in 1799, and came to Philadelphia, where he remained, assisting Dr. Green in 1800. During Dr. Green's pastorship he was elected chaplain to Con- gress with Bishop White. He was elected in 1792, and held that office until Congress' removal to Wash- ington, in 1800. Dr. Green attracted attention by his preaching, and his church became attended by crowds of persons, drawn by his eloquence.

During the British occupation of the city, in 1778, the Second Church was occupied as a hospital. Mr. Hazard says that the pews and wood-work were de- stroyed, as well as the fence which inclosed the church. A chandelier, imported from England, which was suspended from the centre of the ceiling, was taken down by them, sent to New York, aud was afterward repurchased by the congregation. The church was lighted entirely with candles placed in the branches and in ten sconces around the wall, holding one or two candles each.

About the year 1795, owing to improvements in the neighborhood of the church, and the situation be- coming so noisy as to require some remedy, resort was had to a petition for relief, first to the city au - thorities and afterward to the Legislature. The

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former having refused, the latter was petitioned to grant permission to the church to extend chains in front of the church at Third and Arch, to prevent the passage of carriages and horsemen in time of divine service, which privilege was granted, and ex- isted for some years. But finally the grant was re- moved, on application of citizens, who considered themselves aggrieved. Ilorsemen frequently at- tempted to evade the regulation, going around the chains on the pavement, until arrested by the sexton or constable in charge.

The church not occupying the whole space inclosed on Third Street, left a vacancy there, upon a part of which, and a lot adjoining, purchased by the congre- gation, was erected John Ely's frame school-house, to which the boys of the church were sent. This school-house, about the year 1794, gave place to a three-story brick building, erected by the cougrega-

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

tion for a lecture-room and charity school of the church, which was afterward sold with the rest of the church property. The weekly lectures being always so well attended, it became necessary to erect a room of greater capacity, which was done on Cherry Street, in the rear of the burying-ground, immediately ad- joining the church. The Delaware Fire-Engine Company was allowed to erect its house there, upon condition that they should place a door in the rear, so that, in case of need, the engine might be used for the church, and that the company would remove the house at the request of the trustees, which was accordingly done some years afterward.

The quarrel between the First and Third Presby- terian Churches, which was pending at the outbreak of the Revolution, continued during that contest. The matter came to a trial in February, 1776, suit being brought for forcible entry and detainer in the name of Robert Taggart, lessee of First and Third Presbyterian Churches, rs. Robert Knox, Alexander Alexander, and others, to recover possession of the church at Pine and Fourth Streets, which the de- fendants and their associates forcibly entered in 1772, in order to introduce George Duffield to the pulpit. The court gave judgment in favor of the plaintiff's, the First Church. The Third Church gave notice of an appeal to the king in Council. In less than five

months that mode of settlement was closed by the Declaration of Independence. After that event new proceedings might have been necessary, but the con- gregations agreed on compromise. The First Church agreed to take five thousand dollars in full satisfac- tion of all claims. When the money came to be paid, that congregation generously made a deduction of seven hundred and fifty dollars, so that the con- troversy was ended, and the title of the Third Church was confirmed on the payment of four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.

In 1795 the charters of the First and Third Pres- byterian Churches-which were united, and which union had been the cause of much controversy and dissension-were annulled by act of Assembly. A new and separate charter was granted to the First Church on the 21st of September, 1796.

The religious services in the Third Church were interrupted in some degree by the events of the war. Rev. George Duffield was upon the patriot side, and his sermons upou proper occasions were not uncertain | in teaching. On the 6th of July, 1776, he was ap- pointed chaplain of all military forces in the service of Pennsylvania, and he held the office during the war. While the British were in Philadelphia, and while Congress was in session at York, he was elected chaplain of Congress. His services were divided. When the army was quiet he returned to the church and ministered. When the campaigns were opened and the troops in danger, he was generally in camp. He left Philadelphia when Washington retreated through New Jersey to the river Delaware, in the latter part of 1776. He reached the army at Eliza- bethtown, and remained with it until after the battles of Princeton and Trenton, and was among the last who crossed the bridge over the Asanpink Creek, near Trenton, before it was destroyed uuder orders of the commander-in-chief. Mr. Duffield was in charge of this congregation until the time of his death, which occurred Feb. 2, 1790.

During the remainder of that year the church was without a pastor ; but in 1791 Rev. John Blair Smith, D.D., president of Hampden Sidney College, Vir- ginia, was called as pastor, at a salary of three hun- dred pounds. He accepted the position, and dis- charged its duties until the year 1795, when he resigned to become president of Union College, New York. For four years after this the church was with- out a pastor. In 1799 Mr. Smith was recalled and came back to the church; but, unfortunately, for a short time only. He was seized with yellow fever in 1799, and died August 22d of that year, at the age of forty-four years. He was a native of Pequea, Lan- caster Co., Pa., where he was born June 12, 1756. He was a son of Rev. Dr. Robert Smith and brother of Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, who was president of Hampden Sidney College. John Blair Smith was educated at Princeton, but graduated at the College of New York in 1773. In 1775 that institution gave

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him the degree of D.D. He succeeded his brother as president of Hampden and Sidney in 1779. He was celebrated as a preacher in the valley of Virginia, and, after twelve years' service in that country, he came to Philadelphia upon invitation of the Third Church.

During the Revolution, when the British were in Philadelphia, they used this church as a hospital. The pews were burned for fuel. They stripped the | pulpit and windows, and after the abandonment of the church for hospital uses, they used it as a stable for the dragoons.

The sextons of the Third Church during this period were as follows: 1777, William Carr; 1788, Thomas Mitchell, clerk and sexton ; 1793, William Allison ; 1799, Alexander Urquhart. Sexton Allison was pre- sented in 1798, by the congregation, with "a neat, snug, comfortable wig." Sexton Mitchell lost his office in 1792 in consequence of his refusal to open the pew-doors for the congregation. He was willing to perform his duty in all other respects; but upon this the congregation resolved that his " answer was not satisfactory."

In 1792 a large pew opposite the pulpit, at the end of the middle aisle, was reserved " for the accommo- dation of respectable strangers." In the same year a large pew in the centre was ordered to be rented for six pounds yearly. In 1793 a proposition that the members disapprove of the practice of informing the congregation from the desk, on Sundays, when pew- rents were payable, was negatived by a large majority. This church took advantage of the act of Assembly authorizing the putting up of chains across the streets in the vicinity of churches. In fact, the law was passed principally through the efforts of the Second and Third Presbyterian Churches. The committee on behalf of the Third Church to consult upon the subject was composed of Paul Cox, F. MacIlvaine, and J. McCulloch. In 1792 it was unanimously agreed that "no hooks, nails, nor other things be put up in front of gallery and columns for the pur- pose of hanging hats or anything."

The sacrament at the Second Church, at the time of which we are speaking, was celebrated according to the ancient usages and forms observed in Scotland and the north of Ireland. The preparatory service was held on Friday evening, and the names of any admitted by the session to communion were read at this preparatory service. Each communicant re- ceived from the pastor or one of the elders a " token," which was to be an evidence that the person pre- senting it was entitled to the ordinance. The cele- bration of the Lord's Supper was always on the Sabbath morning, after the sermon. The elements were not distributed to those seated, but tables cov- ered with linen were arranged along the middle aisle and along the aisles on either side of the pulpit. As the communicants could not be seated all at once, it was necessary that there should be several tables,

often as many as five being used, those who had communed retiring, and others taking their places. While this was being done part of a hymn was sung.

In June, 1799, a small number of persons were organized by the Presbytery of Philadelphia as the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The members of this little congregation had formerly been connected with the Third Church, and had gone ont from the con- gregation in consequence of disagreement with the majority as to the propriety of choosing George C. Potts to the pastorship. During the vacation in the pulpit of the Third Church, after the death of John Blair Smith, in 1790, Mr. Potts, who was a native of Ireland, was called upon to supply the pul- pit, and he became quite popular among those mem- bers of the church who were of Irish birth. The Scotch and Americans were not so strongly impressed with his merits, and his adherents, who withdrew, formed the Fourth Church. The indigent circum- stances of many of the members of the new organi- zation rendered it impracticable to erect a place of worship, and induced them to rent a very diminutive frame house that had been put up as an appendage to Mr. Peale's residence, on the southwest corner of Lombard and Third Streets, where first began the Philadelphia Museum. This small frame building, of not more than twelve by thirty-five feet, adjoined the corner house on the west side, having its narrow front on Lombard Street. They had no regular pastor at that time, services being conducted by supplies furnished by the Presbytery. In 1800 this small congregation extended a call to George Potts, who was then a licentiate under charge of the Presbytery of New Castle. He accepted the call, and was ordained and installed May 22, 1800. Rev. John Blair Linn, of the First Presbyterian Church, preached the ordination sermon, from John xxi. 15. Rev. John Davenport, of Deerfield, N. J., offered the ordaining prayer, and Rev. Thomas Boyd delivered the charges to the pastor and people. This was the organization of a congregation which after- ward became eminent among the Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia. Mr. Potts was a native of Ireland, born in the county of Monaghan. He came to the United States in the year 1797. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Monaghan. His only permanent service was with this church, with which he remained until near the time of his death.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 98

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992