USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. from a period preceding its settlement to recent times, including the annals and geography of each townshipAlso a sketch of woman's work in the county for the United States sanitary commission, and a list of the soldiers of the national army furnished by many of the townships > Part 40
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The house of worship was commenced in 1827; the first service in it was held December 10th, 1829. The building was materially enlarged, and a basement added about twenty years ago.
The first Congregational church of Bridgewater was organ- ized at the house of Joseph Raynsford, July 3d, 1810, by Revs. E. Kingsbury, then missionary from Connecticut, and M. Miner York, of Wyalusing, with the following members: Moses Tyler, Edmund Stone, Simeon Tyler, Samuel Davis, Amos West, Phineas Arms, Sarah Tyler, Esther Lathrop, Anna Rayns- ford (wife of Joseph) Anna Davis, Hannah Fuller, and Hannah, wife of J. W. Raynsford. The first named was chosen deacon.
The sermon on this occasion was preached in the barn of Walter Lathrop, near the barns since erected by his son Daniel ; it was burned in 1816. The service was one of great solemnity, and was the prelude to a revival of great power. Church 22
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meetings were held very generally after this, at the house of Edward Fuller.
Rev. Mr. Kingsbury had visited the settlement previously, and baptized children of Mrs. Fuller, Moses and Simeon Tyler. Rev. Wm. Lockwood, another missionary, was here in the fall of 1810. At the first communion, October 4th, Revs. Ard Hoyt and M. M. York were present, and thirty-two joined the church.
On the 19th of June, 1811, Rev. Joseph Wood was installed pastor of the church.
The first parsonage, or, at least, the first minister's residence, was a few rods from the house since occupied by John Stroud, and at present by N. Smith.
Mr. W. preached half the time for the 2d Congregational church of Bridgewater (now Brooklyn). Meetings were held at the South school-house for the first time, September, 1811. A former log school-house was burned.
Deacon Tyler resigned his office May, 1812, and Z. Deans was chosen in his place; he was ordained with P. Arms, December 31st, 1812, and the Articles of Faith and Covenant of the Lu- zerne Association were then adopted.
On the 28th of January, 1814, the church applied to the New Hampshire Missionary Society for assistance ; twelve of the members contributed forty cents for the postage on two letters about this business.
Mr. Wood's connection with the church was publicly dissolved September 24th, 1815. A constitution was drawn up at a meet- ing at the school-house, Thanksgiving day, November 13th, 1815, " for the purpose of forming a permanent ecclesiastical society, for the support of an evangelical gospel minister in Bridgewater." Another meeting was held at the house of J. W. Raynsford the first Monday in Jan. 1816, and an agree- ment was entered into to support a minister half the time in the village of Montrose, and the other half in the south neigh- borhood, each man to pay $1, the half of which might be in produce. But the tide of opinion was not all one way, and a " newspaper war " ensued.
During the same year the Union Bible Society was formed. Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Bradford Counties acting in concert, and this, too, excited great controversy. " A citizen," animad- verting upon the constitution of the Bible Society, linked this with banks, turnpike companies, &c., thus : " Every man of sense and information knows that these institutions are diametrically opposite to the principles of a free government. They are engines which I fear will destroy the Republic."(!) Another opposer said of the Bible Society : "The austensible object is certainly laudable, but the best of objects will not justify the
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worst of means"-referring to the constitution, which he believed "drawn up in an artful, ambiguous manner, peculiarly calculated to trap the unwary."
On " Lord's-day, September 15th, 1816," a meeting for pub- lic worship was held at the court-house. Rev. M. M. York, preacher. All meetings for the first half of the year 1817 appear to have been held at the South school-house; but about this time J. W. Raynsford removed to Montrose, and a number of new members being also located here, meetings were held here every alternate Sabbath. There were then four Congrega- tional ministers and seven churches in the county.
In January, 1818, the first mention of Rev. G. N. Judd ap- peared on the church records. He became the " stated supply " before the following July.
Public worship was held in the academy for the first time, December 20th, 1818.
In May, 1819, the church agreed to give Mr. Judd $600 per year, by an assessment on the members in proportion to the valuation of their property.
The first board of trustees appointed to transact the business of the society, consisted of Joseph Butterfield, Zeb. Deans, I. P. Foster, Benj. Sayre, and Elizur Price.
The monthly concert of prayer was first mentioned July 4th, 1819. Church meetings were held monthly, and usually at the house of Reuben Wells. A visiting committee of four to six was appointed to serve three months, to call on the church- members, inquire after delinquents, &c.
Mr. Judd, though greatly beloved, was never installed here. He left early in 1820, on account of the health of his wife-a sister of the late Hon. Theo. Frelinghuysen. They had occu- pied a house which B. Sayre and I. P. Foster built for a par- sonage; Mr. Judd putting in some money also, which, when he left, these gentlemen refunded, taking the society for security. Mr. F. eventually received his portion by the sale of the pro- perty, but that of Mr. S. was yielded to the society. The house was a two-story framed one, opposite Walter Foster's, at the lower end of the village, and long afterwards known as "The Judd house." It has been taken down.
There appears to have been no regular preaching from Feb. 1820 to Feb. 1822, after which Rev. Enoch Conger was here occasionally; he administered the Lord's Supper once in the South school-house, in 1822, and once at the court-house, in 1823. During a visit from Mr. Judd September 12, 1823, after considerable discussion, it was unanimously resolved to adopt the Presbyterian form of government, and seven ruling elders were elected, viz., P. Arms, Z. Deans, R. Wells, M. Tyler, J. W. Raynsford, B. Sayre, and I. P. Foster.
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About the same time, Rev. Burr Baldwin came as a mission- ary to Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1824, he brought his family to Montrose and began his pastoral services, but his installation was deferred until the meeting of Presby- tery in September following.
The plan hitherto adopted of attending Sabbath worship at the South school-house in the morning, and in the village in the evening, was creating much ill feeling; Mr. Baldwin re- versed the order, and the erection of a church in the village was decided upon; the building was raised in July, 1825. The $1400 which had been subscribed for the church edifice was all expended on the foundation, the timber, and raising it ; and Mr. Baldwin set off to N. Y. and Philadelphia to raise funds, returning with $635. The building was completed, and the first service in it was held on Sabbath, June 4th. It was dedi- cated June 22, 1826.
[The building at the left and in the rear is the parsonage.]
Fig. 22.
THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF MONTROSE.
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It would be delightful to linger here and recount the wonder- ful work of grace that followed the dedication. There had been none equal to it since 1810. Although the labors of the several ministers here had not been unblest, still nearly half the additions to the church had been by letter. In succeeding years, the old church became enshrined in the hearts of hun- dreds ; and, especially, is its quaint old session-room recalled with tender emotion.
" Ilk place we scan seems still to speak Of some dear former day- We think where ilka ane had sat Or fixt our hearts to pray ; Till soft remembrance drew a veil Across these een o' mine !"
The pastor's home was in the old "Silver Lake Bank." Rev. Mr. Baldwin's pastorate ended in May, 1829. The pre- ceding year had been one of great trial to the church, owing to the disaffection of some of its members. The organization of the Episcopal church was one result of this; and the heal- ing of differences was followed by a revival of great interest.
In the fall of 1829, the church extended a call to the Rev. Daniel Deruelle, a native of New Jersey. He met with the session for the first time January 21, 1830, and was installed in June following.
The church was greatly prospered during his ministry. He left in 1833, and, his health requiring him to travel, he engaged for some time as the agent of the board of education in the Middle States.
The following is from a parting tribute to him by a pa- rishioner1 :-
"Thine was the skill to look with eye unfailing Quite through the deeds of men to action's spring ; Nor was thy heaven-born genius unavailing To wake on feeling's harp the master string."
When Mr. D. left there were 202 members belonging to the church, of whom nine-tenths were members of the temperance society.
Mr. Deruelle died March 4, 1858, in North Carolina, while agent for the American Bible Society. He was about sixty years old.
The Rev. Timothy Stow was here early in 1834, and his labors were continued with this church until the fall of 1838. He was an outspoken, uncompromising anti-slavery advocate, and left a decided impression upon his congregation. A revival was enjoyed in 1835 and in 1837.
Mr. Stow was occasionally absent-minded. He was accus- tomed to give notice of the evening meeting "at early candle-
1 Miss A. L. Fraser.
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light," or, "at the ringing of the bell;" but, on one occasion, much to the amusement of the congregation, he announced that it would convene "at the ringing of the candles." Both Mr. and Mrs. Stow died some years ago.
During the pastorate of the Rev. H. A. Riley, for twenty-five years succeeding, the church was largely increased by a succes- sion of revivals of unusual power.
He stimulated the church to the erection of the present beau- tiful brick house of worship. Its cost was about $15,000. The corner-stone was laid June 13, 1860. The first service held in it was the funeral of the last one of the constituent members of the church, Mrs. Hannah Fuller, December 17, 1861; the first Sabbath service, January 5, 1862; and the dedication, the following 5th of February.
The present pastor, Rev. Jacob G. Miller, was installed in the fall of 1864.
REV. BURR BALDWIN.
Burr Baldwin was born January 19, 1789, in the town of Weston (now Easton), Fairfield County, Connecticut. He entered Staples Academy at eight years of age; at fourteen he was recommended by the principal to read the Bible daily and consecutively-a practice he adopted, and has never relinquished. He believes it to have been one of the chief instruments of his conversion. He entered Yale College (second term Soph.) at eighteen ; joined the College church the next year; taught school some months after he graduated, and entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1811. He was twice obliged to give up study on account of his health; the first time he took a journey of five hundred miles on foot, and was benefited ; the second time he rode eight hundred miles on horseback in order to ascertain if he could endure the labors of a foreign mission (having been accepted by the A. B. C. F. M.); but returned debilitated. It was not until 1816 that he was able to enter the ministry ; he was then licensed by the Litchfield South Association. In the mean time he had taught a classical school at Newark, N. J., and had been eminently successful in Sabbath-school enterprises.
He spent the following year as a missionary along the Ohio River from Steubenville to Marietta-then the far West-and upon his return, was obliged to resign his appointment to the heathen, on account of his health. During the next four years he labored as missionary in New York city and Northern New Jersey, and as agent for the Presbyterian Education and United Foreign Missionary Societies. Soon after his marriage, in July, 1821, he preached, as stated supply in Hardiston and Frankford, N. J., until his mission to Northeastern Pennsylvania and subsequent pastorate here.
After leaving Montrose he was settled in Connecticut and Massachu- setts. In 1838 he resumed teaching in Newark, and remained there nine years ; his leisure being spent in efforts for the elevation of the working classes. He interested Roman Catholics in the Temperance movement, and obtained twelve hundred names to the pledge. He made strenuous efforts to further the education of the colored race here and in Africa-but the time for the success of his plan had not yet come.
In 1847 he was appointed a missionary of the Montrose Presbytery to strengthen feeble churches and organize new ones. In this undertaking he organized eleven churches, and secured the erection of, at least, twelve church edifices. For such as needed assistance he obtained funds in New
Engraved by John Sartan, Phil"
Henny A Riley
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York and Philadelphia, and in each case made it an object to cancel the debt on the building at or prior to its dedication.
In the autumn of 1856 the Southern Aid Society invited him to go to Texas to inquire into the condition of the several evangelical denominations ; he accepted and was absent eight months, encountering many physical diffi- culties and dangers; and returned to renew his labors in the Montrose Presbytery.
In 1859 his labors were transferred to the Genesee Presbytery, where he remained short of two years, when operations were suspended in consequence of the war.
In July, 1862, he was appointed post chaplain at Beverly, Western Va., in the hospital, until it was closed, in 1863.
His last engagement was with the Delaware Presbytery, until April, 1866, when, at the age of seventy-seven years and three months, he laid off the harness ; since which time he has been quietly domiciled among us with his family.
REV. HENRY A. RILEY.
Henry Augustus Riley was born in the city of New York, November 21, 1801. At the age of fourteen he was placed at the Roman Catholic College, at Georgetown, D. C., where he remained two years, and where he was led to renounce the Protestant faith of his parents, and to purpose a preparation for the priesthood in that institution-a renunciation and a purpose, however, which were recalled when he was freed from the influences to which he had been subjected.
He graduated in 1820 at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), in the collegiate department ; and entered as student of law, in the office of Horace Binney, of that city. Remaining here a few months he was induced, after a very dangerous illness, to commence the study of medicine; and graduated in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1825.
He commenced the practice of medicine in New York, and continued it until the beginning of 1829, when, from a change in his religious views and feelings, he entered the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, to prepare for the ministry.
He graduated in 1832, and in 1835 was ordained and installed pastor over what was then the Eighth Avenue Presbyterian church, now that of West Twenty-third Street, New York.
In January, 1839, he commenced his ministry at Montrose, Pa., and after a pastorate of just twenty-five years he resigned the position, but has con- tinued to reside in the parish. [See Authors.]
ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
October 5, 1829, Bishop Onderdonk confirmed J. W. Rayns- ford, wife, and eldest daughter; also John Street and wife, as constituent members of St. Paul's church. The ceremony took place in the Presbyterian meeting-house, of which church three of the party were former members. For many years St. Paul's had but two male members.
Not far from this time Rev. Samuel Marks was a resident Episcopalian missionary in the county, officiating in Spring- ville and New Milford ; and, in the spring of 1831, in Montrose, at the court-house.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
June 2, 1832, the corner-stone of St. Paul's church was laid. Among its contents was the following record :-
" Rector, Rev. S. Marks; Wardens, J. W. Raynsford and J. C. Biddle; Vestry, Benjamin Lathrop, John Melhuish, S. F. Keeler, Henry Drinker, C. L. Ward, and Admiral Rupley ; Contractors, Jesse Scott, Enos P. Root-contract, $1200. Donor of the ground, Reuben B. Locke. Date of charter, December 20, 1830. 'Our banner is Evangelical Truth and Apostolic Order.' "
This building was 30x43 feet. Service was held Christmas Eve, 1832, when the rector gave reasons for decorating the house with evergreens. It was consecrated by Bishop Onder- donk, October 27, 1833. An organ was purchased in December for $95.
In December, 1849, land for a parsonage was donated by J. W. Raynsford.
Purchase of land for a new church, September, 1855. Lay- ing of the corner-stone, June 1856; consecrated by Bishop Potter, July 17, 1857. At this time the first rector of the church preached the sermon. The cost of the church was $7500, and through the liberality of Henry Drinker, Esq., the debt was cancelled so as to allow of its consecration. A new organ was procured, late in 1866, for $1000. A lot for the erection of a Sabbath-school chapel has been purchased.
The rectors of St. Paul's have been : Revs. S. Marks, W. Peck, Charles E. Pleasants-each at $150, for half the time, per year-George P. Hopkins, John Long, D. C. Byllesby, Robert B. Peet, Wm. F. Halsey, and E. A. Warriner-the last- named on a salary of $1000, with parsonage.
The old church edifice was sold to the Roman Catholics, who celebrate Mass here once every three weeks. Their first ser- vices in Montrose were held at the house of Peter Byrne, about thirty years ago.
A Universalist society was organized here late in 1831. The church was built in 1843, and dedicated July 11, 1844. The preachers of this denomination which are mentioned in the annals of Brooklyn have officiated here, unless the last one is an exception.
The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1845, on land donated by Hon. William Jessup. It was for a long time weak in numbers and in means; but within the last few years, through a series of revivals unprecedented in this church, its weakness has become strength, both in numbers and influence.
Two African Methodist churches in the borough, and a Union church in South Bridgewater, have been erected within the last twenty-five years.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXII.
MIDDLETOWN.
THIS township was so named because it was the middle one of the three townships, into which Rush was divided, in 1813. It was bounded on the north by Choconut, east by Bridgewater, south by Rush, and west by Bradford County. Its fair pro- portions, six miles north and south, by eight miles east and west, have since been twice curtailed by the encroachments of Forest Lake township, leaving the area of Middletown but little over thirty square miles. But this change is scarcely less marked, than the change in the community, which from being originally almost wholly New Englanders, is now composed almost entirely of persons of foreign birth and descent-prin- cipally Welsh and Irish. Numerically, the latter predominate. Their immigration dates back less than forty years; while the pioneers of the section now included within Middletown, settled in its forests over seventy years ago. These were Riel Brister and Benjamin Abbott in the spring of 1799; Andrew Canfield and Silas Beardslee in the fall of the same year; Albert Camp and Joseph Ross in the spring of 1800. Mr. Brister's family consisted of six children, of whom Ira was one; Mr. Canfield's, the same number, of whom Amos, then seventeen, is now living, in his eighty-eighth year; Mr. Beardslee's, eight children; Mr. Ross's, the same; and Mr. Camp's, five children, of whom four were sons. Thus, at least forty-five persons, in the open- ing of the century, were located on the north branch of the Wyalusing; the section known to them as Locke, one of the townships laid out by surveyors under the Connecticut claim- ants. The readers of these pages need not be told, that the high expectations of these settlers were soon doomed to disap- pointment.
On a previous page it has been mentioned that Andrew Can- field left Connecticut in 1797, locating not far below the forks of the Wyalusing ; when he came to the North Branch, he settled just above Riel Brister, on what has since been known as the Stedwell farm. Joshua Grant afterwards settled be- tween them. When the Canfields came here, in 1799, for some days they had only the milk of one cow as the sole sustenance of the family. The men would go in the woods to chop,
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become faint, and eat the inside of bark, and when their work was finished, have milk alone for supper.
Amos, son of Andrew Canfield, afterwards cleared a farm just above Middletown Center. Benjamin Abbott and Silas Beardslee located still further north, but Mr. A. afterwards moved into Rush. There were no mills nearer than the river. Mr. Amos Canfield says :-
" The first summer we lived on the North Branch, we burned a hole in a maple stump for a mortar, in which we pounded our corn, using a spring-pole. It made quite a mill for the whole neighborhood."
In 1799, a family moved upon the head-waters of Wyalusing Creek, one of the survivors of which states, that one winter they kept their cattle alive by cutting down trees for them to browse upon the buds, sprouts, and tender limbs ; yet, when spring came, some had to be drawn on sleds to the pasture fields. He also states that the people, to eke out their meal, in some cases mixed the inner, pulp-like part of hemlock bark with it.
Of the settlers whose labor changed this wilderness into a fruitful field, only meager items are recorded, but "their works do follow them."
Riel Brister died prior to 1815. Hon. Charles Miner men- tioned him more than forty years afterwards, as "the renowned wolf slayer."
Benjamin Abbott was at Wyoming at the time of the mas- sacre, and in old Wyalusing township, outside the county, in 1796 ; as were also a large number of those who located after- wards in Rush and Middletown. In his old age he was fond of relating incidents connected with Wyoming. He removed to Pike, Bradford County, in 1856, where he died in 1858, at the age of ninety-three years.
Andrew Canfield was a prominent Methodist, and his house was ever open for the itinerant preacher.
In 1814, Middletown was in the Wyalusing circuit, then about twenty by forty miles in extent.
Andrew C. died June, 1843, aged eighty-five years. Jere- miah, a brother of Andrew, was also an early settler.
Silas Beardslee's death occurred in 1820-his neck being broken by a fall from a load of hay. His widow removed to Apolacon, where his descendants now reside. His grandson, E. B. Beardslee, is now (1870) a member of the State Legislature.
Albert Camp was one of a numerous family, children of Job, a pioneer, prior to 1793, on the Wyalusing, five miles from its mouth ; a place still occupied by his descendants, and called Camptown. He died at a very advanced age, in 1822. His daughter Polly was the wife of Joseph Ross. His sons were Isaac (now in Bradford County), Levi, Jonathan (now in Illi-
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nois), and Nelson, late on the old place just below Middletown Center.
Joseph Ross was one of three brothers, who settled on the Wyalusing. Their father, Perrin, fell in the Wyoming massa- cre, having run down three horses to reach home the day pre- vious; their mother fled over the mountains to Connecticut. Joseph was an active man in Middletown; his house was its political center. He was often engaged in surveying and locating roads, and from his comparative abundance of means, was called upon to be the succorer of others. At one time when the children of neighbors were crying for food, Mrs. R. had but a crust to give them. The spring-pestle was all the mill privi- lege they had for years, except when Mr. R. took corn on his back seventeen miles, to Black's mills below Camptown. When he first came up the North Branch, he crossed it eigh- teen times. Mrs. R. would often go with her child two or three miles into the woods after the cows. They had ten children, six of whom are now living. Of the three sons, Otis occu- pies the homestead; Norman is in Michigan, and Orin J. is in Bradford County. Mr. R. died May 10, 1855, aged eighty- one years. Mrs. R. April 27, 1864, in her eighty-eighth year. The present large house was erected over fifty years ago.
Daniel Ross, brother of Joseph, was located near the forks of Wyalusing. His sons were John, William, Daniel, and Hiram. Jesse, the youngest son of Perrin Ross, had two sons residents of this county, Perrin and Isaac H. The sons of Otis Ross are Joseph and Perrin S. His daughter Mary, is the postmistress at Middletown Center.
In 1800, Darius Coleman settled on the North Branch, just below Riel Brister. His name, as well as those of all persons in the vicinity, is to be found on the assessment roll of " Rin- daw," or Rush, for 1801. He was a hunter, and in one year killed forty deer, besides bears, panthers, etc. He had nine daughters and three sons, Amos, Alonzo, and Darius. Mrs. C. survived her husband many years, dying but recently (late in 1870), on the old farm to which he came seventy years ago, and which is now occupied by his son Alonzo. The old house was across the road and a little north of his present residence. Mr. C. was a man of peace, diligent in business, and active in the support of the schools of the neighborhood. His farm was on the line between Middletown and Rush. In the same year (1801), Josiah Grant was taxed for a saw-mill.
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