History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 212

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 212

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Of the lands John Johnson purchased of Mrs. Ad- dison, Vincent Cockins bought two hundred and sixty-five acres, Aug. 1, 1817, on which his son, John Cockins, now lives; Dr. James Irwin purchased one hundred and four acres, May 7, 1810; John Hog- seed, one hundred and eighty acres, April 1, 1813; David McConehey, one hundred and eighty acres, Sept. 10, 1817, and others later. Matthew Johnson was one of the ejected in 1784. He purchased, March 7, 1783, of David Long, a tract of land "supposed to contain two hundred acres, situated on the waters of Shirtee Creek."

Mount Prospect Church.1-The history of this congregation really begins before the church had an organized existence. As early as the summer of 182+ the people began to congregate in or near this place for the purpose of holding public worship. The object in holding these first meetings in this place doubtless was to accommodate with the preaching of the gospel many people who were at inconvenient distances from their respective places of worship. The nearest Presbyterian Churches were those already named,-Buffalo, Cross Creek, Raccoon, and Miller's Run,-each distant about six miles.

Meetings were at first held in private houses, and afterwards in the grove just south of the church. These meetings led to the organization of Mount Prospect Church. Prominent among those who were specially accommodated by these services were the fo !-

1 Taken chiefly from a historical sermon by the pastor, the Rev. T. R. Alexander.

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MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSIIIP.

lowing persons, with their families: William Hughs, John Cowen, William Simpson, Robert Marshall, Robert Wallace, Samuel Moore, Charles Campbell, David McGugin, Simeon Haynes, Archy Stewart, Hugh McConaughey, David Lyle, George Campbell, John White, and Samuel Jewell.

This new mission succeeded so well during that summer that it was thought practicable to continue and perhaps perpetuate it in an organized form. To this end a petition, signed by a part or perhaps all those whose names are above mentioned, was pre- sented to the Presbytery of Washington on the 29th day of December, 1824, asking Presbytery to form a new congregation at this place. For reasons that cannot be discovered now this petition was not granted. In the light of the next minute that ap- pears on the Presbyterial record it is inferred that this first petition was denied until it should be made to appear that a place of worship would be provided ; this was done at the next meeting of Presbytery, as appears from the fact that a petition was laid before the Presbytery asking permission to build a house of worship on the farm of Simeon Haynes, half a mile west of Mount Pleasant, now Hickory. This request was granted on the 20th of April, 1825; and this, be- yond question, implies also a grant of the former petition. Hence it appears that the history of Mount Prospect as an organized church begins April 20, 1825.

Until the settlement of the first pastor the pulpit was supplied as regularly as could be expected. The following is a list of the supplies, to which, of course, others should be added whose names have been lost : Revs. Mccluskey, Mercer, Anderson, Elisha Mc- Curdy, Nesbit, William Smith, John Hamilton, Vin- cent, Hoge, James Stockton, and David Hervey, who afterward became pastor. The price paid to supplies at that time was three dollars. The first sacrament of which there is a record was administered on the fourth Sabbath in May, 1827, by Dr. Anderson and Elisha McCurdy. But the time soon came when Mount Prospect no longer contented herself with only an occasional sermon, and that coming as it were by accident. Accordingly in the fall of 1828 a call was presented to the Presbytery for the pastoral services of the Rev. David Hervey, and that he might be free from worldly cares and avocations, they prom- ised and obliged themselves to pay him the sum of $350 annually. The call was accepted, and on the 3d of December, 1828, he was installed the first pas- tor of this church, Dr. Wylie having preached the sermon and Dr. Anderson delivering the charges. This pastorate continued a little over six years, and was dissolved by Presbytery April 23, 1835. After the resignation of Mr. Hervey the congregation was without a settled pastor for about two years. The following is a partial list of the supplies during the vacancy : Revs. Knox, Sloan, Weed, Elliot, McCart- ney, Boggs, Kennedy, Moore, and Stockton.

In the spring of 1837 the congregation presented a call to Presbytery for the pastoral services of the Rev. James Moore, promising to pay him the sum of $450 annually, which sum was reduced to $400 after four years. The call was accepted, and Mr. Moore became pastor of the congregation about the 1st of April, 1837. His was the longest pastorate ever enjoyed by the congregation, having continued till the third Wed- nesday of April, 1845, a little more than eight years. After his release followed another vacancy till the fall of 1849, during a part of which time the congre- gation had Prof. Snyder (then a teacher at Canons- burg) as a stated supply. In addition to this the fol- lowing names occur in the list of supplies for that period : Revs. Newell, Miller, Moore, Hastings, Nes- bitt, Hare, and Todd. The church determined to call back one of her own sons to occupy her pulpit. Accordingly, at the fall Presbytery of 1849 a call was presented for the services of the Rev. David Campbell at a salary of $450, which after the first year was raised to $470. This call was accepted, and before the close of that year he was installed as pastor. Mr. Campbell's pastorate continued about six years, and he was released about Nov. 1, 1855.

The vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Campbell continued till December, 1858, when the Rev. William B. Keeling was installed as pastor. The following names occur among the supplies during this vacancy : Revs. John Stockton, J. P. Fulton, J. L. Pomeroy, Alexander McCarrell, Loyal Young, James Fleming, O. M. Todd, and D. R. Campbell. Mr. Keeling's salary was fixed at $600. His pastorate was the shortest thus far in the history of the church, ending with the September meeting of Presbytery in 1863. His successor, the Rev. J. C. Caldwell, was installed about September, 1864, leav- ing a vacancy of only one year. During that year mention is made of the following supplies: John Stockton, D.D., C. V. McCraig, and John Eagleson, D.D. Mr. Caldwell accepted the call at a salary of $600, which was subsequently increased to $700, then to $800. His pastorate ended Aug. 1, 1868, being one month less than four years.

The vacancy following the resignation of Mr. Cald- well was a short one, less than six months. During this time mention is only made of the Rev. Frederick Wotring and David W. Miller as having supplied the pulpit. In December, 1868, the Rev. R. T. Price, having accepted a call from the congregation, became its pastor at a salary of nine hundred dollars .. He was released from the charge by Presbytery in Janu- ary, 1873, having served the congregation as pastor for four years and about one month. Then followed a short vacancy of about four months, till the begin- ning of the present pastorate. The Rev. T. R. Alex- ander was elected by the congregation in April, 1873, and began to preach regularly on the 1st of June, but was not installed until October 10th, after the fall meeting of the Presbytery. At his installation the

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Rev. J. T. Fredericks presided, and preached the · sermon. The Rev. J. H. Stevenson charged the pas- tor, and the Rev. Samuel Forbes the people. This pastorate still continues.

The congregation has been particularly fortunate in its elders. There first appear the names of Wil- liam Simpson, John Cowen, and William Hughes ; these were elected elders at the organization of the church in 1825. William Simpson was an elder in the church of Miller's Run, and John Cowen and William Hughes were elders in the church of Upper Buffalo when the organization was effected here. In transferring their connection to this church at its organization they were at the same time elected and installed ruling elders, being the first to hold that office in this church. The changes in the session . since that time have been as follows: In 1828, Charles Campbell, Hugh McConaughey, and Andrew Farrar were elected elders. William Hughes died April 17, 1831; Charles Campbell died June 4, 1832; Andrew Farrar died Nov. 5, 1832; and John Cowen died Aug. 11, 1833. In 1832, Robert Lyle was elected ruling elder. About the close of 1833, Samuel Moore and Dr. John White were elected elders, but the latter declined to act. In 1842, James Hughes was elected. William Simpson, the last of the original elders, died March 20, 1848. Samuel Moore died soon after. In the fall of 1848, William M. Campbell and Samuel Cowen were elected, and in February, 1851, James Lee was added to the session. Jan. 26, 1857, all the . members of the session resigned, and February 9th of the same year James Lee, James Hughes, Hugh Mc- Conaughey, and William M. Campbell were elected elders.

The session of four continued till March 9, 1859, when James Rankin, James F. Hill, and James Mc- Elroy were elected. The session was again reduced by the removal of James McElroy and W. M. Campbell, about April 1, 1861. No further change occurred in the eldership until Jan. 25, 1867, when Andrew. Don- aldson and A. V. McGugin, who had been previously elected, were ordained and installed. James Lee died June 12, 1867, and James F. Hill removed from the congregation in January, 1869. On the 17th of De- cember in that year J. R. Lyle and A. E. Walker were ordained, and they, together with W. M. Camp- bell, who had returned to the congregation, were in- stalled as elders of the church. The next change was that occasioned by the death of James Hughs, March 12, 1872, and the next that which took away the vener- able Hugh McConaughy, after having faithfully served as a ruling elder in his church for forty-six years. He died on the 14th of November, 1874. The next addi- tion was made to the session by the ordination and installation of John H. Miller on the 6th day of No- vember, 1875. James F. Hill, having returned to the congregation in the summer of 1877, was re- elected and installed as elder. The session was de- creased in 1880 by the death of Andrew Donaldson,

who died July 12th of that year, having served faith- fully in the office for eighteen years and four months. The session also lost a member by the removal of A. E. Walker. It at present consists of William M. Campbell, James Rankin, Esq., A. V. McGugin, J. R. Lyle, James H. Miller, and James F. Hill.

There does not appear to have been a building of any kind until upwards of a year after the church was organized. Early in the summer of 1826, how- ever, a board "tent" was erected in the grove just south of the church, which was occupied as a place of public worship during that summer. The first church building was built during the latter part of the summer and autumn of 1826, and was occupied by the congregation the following winter. The build- ing was a frame one, and was erected by Hugh Mc- Conaughey. It occupied about the same site on which the present building stands. This building was never formally dedicated, but was simply occupied by the people. With some additions made to it afterwards, it remained the only house of worship for the congre- gation until the year 1861. In that year the old church building, which had been occupied for thirty- five years, was taken down, and in its stead a brick struc- ture erected, at a cost of a little more than $4000. The first service was held in it Dec. 28, 1861, and it remained until March 23, 1871, when it was destroyed by fire. During the summer of that year the present building was erected at a cost of $9307, and on the 29th of February, 1872, was formally dedicated, free from debt.

The church has received into its membership since its organization, as near as can be ascertained, eight hundred and twenty-eight. The present membership is about two hundred and thirty. Of the former pastors two only are living,-Rev. J. C. Caldwell, of Chambersburg, Pa., and the Rev. R. T. Price, of Dun- bar, Pa. Rev. David Hervey, the first pastor, died June 19, 1881. Rev. W. B. Keeling died in 1878, and Rev. D. R. Campbell in 1873.

The United Presbyterian Congregation of Mount Pleasant.1-This congregation is located in Mount Pleasant township. The house of worship is situated in the village of Hickory, and not far from the centre of the township. The precise date of its organization cannot now be ascertained. It was most probably organized by the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania between 1790 and 1800. It is recog- nized as a congregation in the oldest minute of Char- tiers Presbytery now extant, the record of Nov. 10, 1801.

It cannot now be ascertained who entered into the organization at the first, or who were the elders under whom the organization was effected, as the records of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania are not now available, and the oldest record of the session of Mount Pleasant that can now be found bears the date

1 By the Rev. W. A. McConnell.

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MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

of June 1, 1821. There is a continuous record of the session from that date to the present time. At the above-named date the following-named individuals composed the session, and were the ruling elders of the congregation, viz. : Messrs. Patrick Douglass, William Nelson, Thomas McCall, David Reed, Lou- dowick McCarrell, and John McBride.

Succeeding elders have been installed as follows :

Installed 1825, Elijah Coulter, Robert Acheson, and John Little.

Installed 1828, John Moore, Samuel Cunningham, and John McCall.

Installed 1836, Samuel Agnew, Andrew Miller, and Heuston Buchanan.

Installed 1841, William Caldwell, Ephraim Mc- Kimans, Joseph Thompson, and Joseph McKnight.

Installed 1846, John Reed, Esq., and E. J. Agnew. Installed 1861, John McBurney, Robert Jeffrey, and John L. Thompson.

Installed 1865, W. S. White, Nathaniel White, Wil- liam M. Russell, and James Caldwell.

Installed 1879, Samuel Moore, J. H. Moore, T. M. Berryhill, and Alexander V. Reed.

The following-named individuals are the elders in charge of the congregation at the present time, viz. : Messrs. John McBurney, Robert Jeffrey, Nathaniel White, James Caldwell, Samuel Moore, J. H. Moore, T. M. Berryhill, and Alexander V. Reed.

The first pastor was the Rev. W. C. Brownlee. His pastorate was of short duration, extending over a period of only three years and four months. Dr. Brownlee was born in 1783, at Torfoot, Scotland ; graduated at the University of Glasgow, and at a subsequent period received the degree of D.D. from the same institution. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Sterling in the year 1808. Coming to this country soon after his licensure, he was ordained and installed pastor of Mount Pleasant congregation by the Presbytery of Chartiers May 3, 1809. September, 1812, he received and accepted a call to become pastor of the Associate Congregation of Philadelphia, which terminated his relation to the congregation of Mount Pleasant. Soon after remov- ing to Philadelphia he connected himself with the Reformed Dutch Church, in which connection he re- mained until the year 1860, when he died, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and in the fifty-second year of his ministry.

The Rev. Alexander Donnan, the second pastor of this congregation, was a native of Scotland, born in the year 1775. At the age of seventeen he entered the University of Glasgow. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Kilmarnock in 1800. In the spring of 1818 he emigrated with his family to America, and at once connected himself with "the Associate Church of North America." In January, 1820, he received and accepted calls from what was then the Associate, now the United Presbyterian con- gregation of Mount Pleasant and Burgettstown, both

located in Washington County, Pa. Each of the aforesaid congregations received one-half of his pas- toral labors until the year 1840, when he resigned the pastoral care of Burgettstown. The congregation of Mount Pleasant enjoyed his undivided labors from the year 1840 to the year 1852, when, on account of the infirmities of age, he resigned the charge of it also. After resigning this charge he lived upwards of seven years in the bounds of Mount Pleasant congregation. His death occurred on the 3d of June, 1859, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, and in the fifty-ninth year of his ministry.

The third pastor was the Rev. Joseph Russell Thomp- son. He was a child of the congregation, born and reared in it. Son of Joseph and Margaret Thompson, the former for about twenty years ruling elder of the congregation, he was born Sept. 15, 1823, nearly three years after the settlement as pastor of his im- mediate predecessor, the Rev. Alexander Donnan. In the year 1845 he entered the sophomore class in Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., graduating in the year 1848. Soon after he commenced the study of theology in the Associate Theological Seminary, then located at Canonsburg, and was licensed to preach the gospel by the Associate Presbytery of Chartiers in the year 1851. He received a call to become pas- tor of the congregation of Mount Pleasant, and com- menced to labor in said congregation January, 1853. On the 28th day of the April following he was or- dained and installed pastor of the congregation, and the relation thus constituted continued most happily until it was dissolved by his death, which occurred on the 16th day of December, 1861, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and in the eleventh year of his min- istry.

The fourth pastor, the Rev. W. A. McConnell, was born near Mansfield, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1830; graduated at Franklin College; studied theology at the Associate Reformed, now United Presbyterian Theological Semi- nary, Allegheny City, Pa., and was licensed to preach the gospel June.16, 1858. On the 15th of June, 1859, was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Mill Creek, Keen, and White Eyes by the United Presbyterian Presbytery of Mansfield, and was released from said charge in 1864. Received and accepted a call from the congregation of Mount Pleasant, in the Presbytery of Chartiers, July 4, 1865. Immediately took charge of the congregation ; was installed pas- tor Oct. 31, 1865, the relation thus formed still con- tinuing.

A Sabbath-school was first organized in the congre- gation under the pastorate of Rev. J. R. Thompson, in or about the year 1853. It has now one hundred and twenty-five scholars, and some two hundred vol- umes in the library.

The congregation at the present time is occupying its third house of worship, though a tent had been used for that purpose for some years prior to the erec- tion of a house of worship, the tent being located

864

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

near the site now occupied by the congregation. The first house of worship was a log building erected in the year 1803. The second was a good commodious brick building, erected in the year 1834, and completed in 1835. The third, the one occupied by the congre- gation at this date, is a brick building," sixty by eighty feet, one story, erected in the year 1867. Its cost with its fixtures was about $13,000. The congre- gation at the present time has about two hundred communion members, is free from debt, and in a state of peace.

Village of Hickory .- The tract of land on which the village of Hickory is situated was located by James Ross, who died in January, 1781, before the warrant was secured. He left a wife Mary, a married daughter, Mrs. Hannah Andrews, and Margaret, Mary, and Isabel, and three sons,-James, John, and Robert A. It was not until the 19th of October, 1785, the executors took out a warrant for the land in trust for the heirs of James Ross. It was surveyed to them on the 3d of September, 1786, under the name of "Executorship," and contained three hundred and two acres, adjoining John Ross, William Martin, James McClelland, and Matthew Hillis. The follow- ing advertisement appeared in the Washington Tele- graphe of March 20, 1797 :

" To be Sold

" By the Subscriber on the first day of May next by Public Vendue a number of Town Lots situate in Smith Township Washington County at a place commonly known by the name of the Hickory Tavern or Mount Pleasant.

" ANDREW MCCOWN.

" March 20, 1797.

" N. B .- A Horse Mill will be erected this summer for the convenience of the town."

On the 7th of July, 1802, a deed was executed by John Ross and John Shannon, executors, to Andrew McCown for one hundred acres of land, part of the Ross tract. There is no record of any sales having been made in 1797, but at this time Mccown opened a tavern and sold several lots. A tavern had been at this point several years before. The first village lots that appear on record are as follows: Feb. 8, 1803, to William Hammond and Richard Donaldson ; the next day one to Thomas Cooper; March 6, 1804, one to Neill McFarland; between that time and May 1st lots were sold to John Hoge, William Marshall, John Griffith, and one acre to the trustees of the Mount Pleasant Congregation. On the 1st of May, 1804, Andrew Mccown sold the one hundred acres (except the lots mentioned above) purchased of the Ross estate to Samuel Miller. In this deed the town is called Mount Pleasant, and the land is mentioned as lying in Smith and Chartiers townships. The name " Hickory" originated from an incident which hap- pened here before Mccown owned the property. A party of axemen were opening a road from Wells' mill, on Cross Creek, to Canon's mill, on Chartiers. They came to this place at about dinner-time, and here found an old broken sled, which they used for

a table. After the repast was over one of the com- pany pulled down a hickory sapling standing near, to which the sled was fastened, and springing to its orig- inal position carried the sled with it, where it re- mained several years. They jocularly called the place the "Hickory tavern," and when in the course of time it became a cross-roads and a tavern, blacksmith- shop, and store followed, the name still clung to it and became the name of the hamlet and town.

Thomas Miller, son of Samuel Miller, kept tavern at the town about 1812. He kept the tavern a year or two and removed to near Burgettstown, where he died in 1819. In 1820, John and James McCluskey bought a lot in Hickory. James kept tavern in that place many years.

A post office was established about 1830. William Walker was the first postmaster appointed. He was succeeded by James McCluskey, Samuel Griffith, William Simcox, and James M. Campbell, the present postmaster. The village now contains about forty dwellings, a United Presbyterian Church, Union school-house, post-office, hotel, three stores, and two physicians.

Physicians.1-Owing to the imperfect data at our command we will be unable to go back of the year 1800. Two brothers named Grant were located here in the practice of medicine somewhere between 1800 and 1810. Following them was one Dr. Carroll, who practiced for several years, winning the love and es- teem of his patrons, and who died in the year 1815. The next in the practice was Dr. John White, who was a graduate of Jefferson College of the class of 1804, moved to Steubenville, Ohio, studied law, was admitted to the bar, subsequently returned to Wash- ington County and married, was one year in the pro- thonotary's office in Washington a's clerk.

Feeling that the practice of medicine was or would be more agreeable to his taste than that of law, he removed to Cecil township and studied medicine under Dr. Robert Thompson, of Thompsonville, re- maining with him three and a half or four years. On April 1, 1816, he removed to Hickory, becoming a successor of Dr. Carroll, and continuing in the practice till the spring of 1849, when impaired health required that he cease from all active pursuits of life, and died on the 19th day of August, 1853, aged sixty- seven years.

Dr. White was an eminent physician of his time, as well as a man peculiarly gifted with qualities that made him a valued member of the community, hold- ing for many years the office of justice of the peace, his knowledge of the law fitting him especially for the transacting of such business as usually comes before such an officer. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Mount Prospect, in the ceme- tery of which he was buried.

1 This sketch of the physicians of Hickory, Mount Pleasant township, is contributed by Dr. Joseph McElroy.

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MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

During the period of Dr. White's practice, from 1816 to 1849, we have, first, Dr. Hewitson, from 1833 to 1835, who removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio; next, Dr. Anderson, who removed to Cross Creek; next, Dr. Hughes, who was a practitioner in Hickory and vicinity from about 1842 to 1850, who afterwards studied theology, and became a minister of the gospel.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 212

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216