USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County : from its first settlement to the present time, first under Virginia as Yohogania, Ohio, or Augusta County until 1781, and subsequently under Pennsylvania > Part 20
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1834 .- Rev. R. H. Lee, Professor of Ancient Languages, 1837.
1837 .- Rev. R. H. Lee, Professor of Political Economy, 1854.
1837 .- Rev. D. Ferguson, Professor of Ancient Languages, 1844.
1840 .- Robert Milligan, Professor of English Literature, 1851.
1844 .- Rev. Nicholas Murray, Professor of Ancient Languages, 1853.
1846 .- John L. Gow, Professor of Constitutional and Municipal Law, 1851.
1846 .- James King, M. D., Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hy- giene, 1851.
1851 .- Rev. James W. McKennan, Professor of English Literature and Ancient Languages, 1854.
1851 .- Robert Milligan, Professor of Natural Science, 1852.
1853 .- Rev. E. C. Wines, Professor of Ancient Languages.
1853 .- Rev. Samuel J. Wilson, Professor of Ancient Languages.
1854 .- Rev. W. J. Martin, Professor of Natural Sciences, 1858.
1858 .- Wm. H. Brewer, Professor of Natural Sciences, 1859. 1859 .- Rev. James Black, Professor of Ancient Languages, 1868. 1860 .- Alexander Muckle, Professor of Natural Sciences.
1861 .- Rev. Henry Woods, Professor of Ancient Languages.
1861 .- George W. Miller, Professor of Mathematics.
1862 .- Rev. Joseph Waugh, Professor of Mathematics.
1864 .- W. J. Brugh, Professor of Mathematics, 1866.
1865 .- R. D. Wylie, Professor of Mathematics, 1866.
1865 .- Rev. E. F. Farrier, Professor of English Literature, 1867.
1866 .- Geo. B. Vose, Professor of Mechanics and Civil Engineering.
1866 .- C. M. Dodd, Professor of Latin.
1866 .- Rev. Alonzo Linn, Professor of Greek and Latin Literature.
1865 .-- D. Kirkwood, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, 1867
1866 .- Samuel Jones, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.
1866 .- E. H. Twining, Professor of Natural Sciences, December 23, 1869.
1867 .- Rev. J. S. Roberts, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, Dec. 23, 1868.
1868 .- S. F. Peckham, Professor of Natural Science, 1869.
1869 .- J. S. Simonton, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy.
(For the history of Jefferson College see Canonsburg, title, Chartiers township. page 221.)
In connection with Washington College are two literary societies, viz: the Union Literary Society, and the Washington Literary Society, each of which has large and valuable libraries.
The Union Literary Society was founded November 10, 1809, by Jonathan Kearsley, Andrew Stewart, Joseph B. Becket, John Ste- phenson, Thos. S. Cunningham, and John McKennan.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
The founders adopted as the motto of the Society, " Deo juvante in ardua nitimur."
The Washington Literary Society was founded February 22, 1814, by Alexander Gilleland, F. J. Lemoyne, William Heaton, James Page, A. O. Patterson, Robert McLean, Andrew Page, Jacob Wolf.
The motto of the Society is " Doctrina vim promovet insitam."
JAMES MONROE,
President of the United States, arrived in Washington May 4, 1817, accompanied by Gen. Brown and his aid Major Worth, General McComb and his aid Captain Root, and Governor Lewis Cass of Detroit. They were conducted to David Morris's hotel by a com- mittee of arrangement appointed by the citizens, and escorted by Capt. McCluney's company of infantry.
The President the next day left for Canonsburg and Pittsburg, accompanied by Gen. Sutton, Col. Hill, and Maj. Dunlap.
PRESIDENT MONROE.
During the presidency of Rev. Andrew Wylie, James Monroe, President of the United States, visited Washington on May 4th, 1817. He was received and welcomed to the hospitalities of the place. Dr. Wylie addressed him in the following language :-
HONORED SIR : It is with no small degree of pleasure that I present to your Excellency, in behalf of the trustees, faculty, and students of Wash- ington College, our sincere congratulation on your safe arrival at this place.
It would be superfluous to attempt, by our feeble testimony, to add to the evidence of that universal satisfaction with which an enlightened and happy people behold your Excellency placed in the highest office that their grateful suffrages can bestow. The public expression of this satisfaction is infinitely remote, both from the interested adulation of sycophants, and the constrained applauses of the slaves of arbitrary power. It is the voice of nature, the utterance of the heart, the spontaneous effusion of the souls of freemen, too dignified to feign what they do not feel, and too intelligent and generous not to appreciate your past distinguished services to the re- public, and the unequalled advantages of that government whose executive functions You are called to discharge. Participating in this universal sen- timent, permit us to join in the public expression of it.
A kind Providence bestows upon us liberty, abundance, and health, and we acknowledge, as a blessing which enhances all the rest, the exercise of that spirit of benign wisdom which sheds its radiance on the commence- ment of your administration. We hail its orient lustre as the precursor of a still happier day than any we have yet seen-may not its brightness be ob- scured by the mists of prejudice, nor its serenity disturbed by the storms of faction !
As friends in literature and mental refinement, which require for their successful cultivation a state of concord where all the charities of nature, unembittered by party rancor, have free scope for exercise, we cannot but notice, with peculiar satisfaction, every influence calculated to produce such a state. An influence of that happy character we recognize in that
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liberal policy which dictated, and which everywhere attends, your journey through the different sections of the United States. Inferior in its harmo- nizing tendency to no influence but that of the religion of Immanuel, may it meet no obstacle in the minds of the people to prevent its having its full effect in allaying the jealousies of party, and increasing the action of those moral ties which, still more than those of interest, are requisite to bind together this confederated republic.
We are especially sensible of the honor you have done us by visiting this western region, which is but just commencing its ascent in the scale of improvement. Those institutions which are calculated to accelerate this ascent are but in their infancy ; yet we believe your Excellency will view them with some degree of interest, especially such as have for their object the cultivation of the mind, since this is the source to which all those im- provements which render a people great, respectable, or happy, must be referred. That your Excellency may have the happiness of contemplating the progress of our beloved country in virtue, literature, arts, and power, becoming still more rapid in every successive year of your administration, and that you may enjoy a life prolonged amidst the choicest gifts and bless- ings of Heaven, honored sir, is our fervent desire.
To which PRESIDENT MONROE replied :-
SIR : I accept with unfeigned pleasure this expression of your sentiments in behalf of the trustees, faculty, and students of Washington College. The object of my present tour round a very considerable extent of our maritime and inland frontiers was that I might be enabled, from a personal knowledge of the state of our country, to discharge my official duty by pro. viding for its best interests. In this journey I have derived great satisfac- tion in contemplating the increased prosperity of our beloved country, and observing those indications of patriotism and harmony which so generally prevail among my fellow-citizens, and which this movement has tended to draw forth.
The sentiments expressed in your address do honor to yourself and to the literary institution over which you preside, and are not, I am persuaded, the language of adulation, but a just expression of your esteem for our happy Constitution, which secures to us our civil and religious rights, and is so well calculated to answer every object of the social compact.
In providing for the prosperity and happiness of a country, a careful attention to literary institutions and the education of youth ought ever to occupy a high place. To the youth we must look with an eye of deep interest-they are the hope of our country-and I cannot omit mentioning the peculiar gratification I have received from observing the growth of literary institutions, and the attention which is paid to the instruction of youth, and which is certainly the best and most permanent basis on which our privileges, civil and religious, can be founded.
For the notice you have taken of the few services that I have been enabled to render to my country-for the friendly wish expressed for the prosperity of the republic under my administration, as well as for my per- sonal comfort and happiness, I pray you, sir, to accept my thanks, and per- mit me to reciprocate my best wishes for the prosperity of the institution over which you preside, and for the happiness of the trustees, faculty, and students, that the College of Washington may not only retain its present celebrity, but that under your direction it may be growing in a state of progressive and rapid improvement, is my sincere desire.
Accept, sir, for yourself, the trustees, faculty, and students of Washing- ton College, the assurance of my respect.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
We are chiefly indebted to the Rev. Dr. James I. Brownson, the present efficient and highly esteemed pastor of this church, for the historical facts contained in the following history of this church.
Previous to the organization of the Presbyterian church the Pres- byterians who resided in the town of Washington, in October, 1781 (at the time it was laid out), held their membership in the church of Chartiers, near Canonsburg, under the care of Rev. Dr. McMillan. From this period to 1793 Presbyterial supplies preached in the court- house. However, when the stone academy, now the central build- ing of the old college, was erected, it served both for educational purposes and religious worship. A place of worship, however, being procured, an organization was effected in 1793, by the consent of the Presbytery of Ohio, and Andrew Swearingen, Joseph Wherry, Ro- bert Stockton, and William McCombs were ordained as the first elders.
This being the first regular organization of the Presbyterian church, it would be well to remark as an historical fact that the re- cords of the Presbytery of Redstone show that Alexander Addi- son, a licentiate from the Presbytery of Aberlour, Scotland, and afterwards the distinguished president judge of this judicial district, preached in Washington in December, 1785, when application was made for him as a stated supply, which request was granted April 18, 1786, until the meeting of the Synod.
This church having placed itself under the care of the Presbytery of Ohio, which was organized in 1793, the Rev. James Welsh occu- pied the pulpit as a stated supply from April, 1794, for one year. Rev. Thaddeus Dodd, Rev. Boyd Mercer, Rev. John Anderson, and Rev. Samuel Potter officiated occasionally as supplies. On the 23d of October, 1800, William McCamant and Robert Anderson were appointed commissioners from the church to attend a meeting of the Presbytery, and were authorized by the Washington congrega- tion to take such steps as would procure the settlement of Rev. Thomas Ledlie Birch, as there were a number of his old hearers and neighbors from Ireland in the congregation. The Presbytery of Philadelphia indorsed his papers, and also many distinguished divines in the east. It appears, however, that the Presbytery did not receive such satisfaction as would induce them to give him the charge ; yet he continued to exercise his ministry in Washington, under an appeal to the General Assembly. In January, 1801, at a meeting of the Presbytery at Cross Creek, the Rev. Birch under- went another examination of his experimental acquaintance with religion, but was rejected. The Presbytery then appointed sup- plies, and a portion of the church retained Rev. Mr. Birch. The Rev. Birch also preached in Pittsburg one Sabbath in each month, for which they paid him one hundred dollars per annum, while his salary in Washington was six hundred dollars. On the 26th
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April, 1801, the congregation appointed John Wilson, Samuel Young, and William Smylie commissioners to present their com- plaint and supplication to the General Assembly in the May following. The letter was signed by Samuel Whann, James Chambers, Wil- liam McCamant, Hon. Henry Taylor, Dr. Absalom Baird, and Robert Anderson, in which they state all the circumstances, and repel the idea of an attempt to establish a congregation within the bounds of an old organized congregation, which the Presbytery deems irregular, and contrary to the order of the Presbyterian church.
This committee also state a fact to the General Assembly worthy of being recorded to show the state of religion at that period in Washington-"We doubt not but that your humanity and zeal for the gospel will be moved at hearing of our state. Our town, the most populous in this part of the continent, is in the centre of a close settled country, not less than sixteen miles square. The Lord's Supper never was dispensed during the last fifteen years, and our families not even comforted by one ministerial visit, until lately by the Rev. Mr. Birch ; and not more than two or three solitary supplies in a season, until now they are sent to us from a spirit of contention. We therefore humbly and respectfully supplicate that you will be pleased to take the Rev. Thomas Ledlie Birch under your protec- tion, and take such steps towards the settlement of our congregation as your wisdom shall seem meet, as many of our principal members, now grown weary from all their attempts to obtain a gospel minis- ter, being so many times frustrated, have declared that if Rev Mr. Birch is obliged to leave us they will withdraw, and in consequence we must nearly cease from being a worshipping society."
The General Assembly having examined Rev. Mr. Birch on his experimental acquaintance with religion decided, May 26, 1801, that they find no obstruction against any Presbytery to which he may apply, taking him up and proceeding with him agreeably to the rules and regulations in this case made and provided.
At the first meeting of the Presbytery at Buffalo, however, July, 1801, a majority of the Washington congregation petitioned the Pres- bytery to take Rev. Mr. Birch under their care, in accordance with the decision of the General Assembly; but the Presbytery resolved to have nothing farther to do with the Rev. Mr. Birch as to his trials for the gospel ministry, as well as from the general report which prevailed with respect to his imprudent and irregular conduct.
This led to an open rupture between the friends of the Rev. Mr. Birch and the congregation of Washington, represented by its el- ders, Messrs. Swearingen, Stockton, Wherry, and McComb. These four elders procured the Washington Academy in January, 1802, for religious worship, while it was closed against the adherents of the Rev. Mr. Birch. The Rev. Thomas L. Birch was buried in the old Presbyterian churchyard, in Buffalo township, where he was settled as pastor. This unchristian strife ceased after much unchristian conduct on both sides, and peace and tranquillity were restored through
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the instrumentality of a gifted young man who preached in the stone academy in the spring of 1805. That young divine was the Rev. Matthew Brown, a graduate of Dickinson College, who, by his urbanity of manners, Christian conduct, unassuming habits, and being an able and eloquent minister in defence of the principles of his Divine Master, received a unanimous call, and was ordained October 16, 1805 -the Rev. Mr. Snodgrass having preached the sermon from 1 Tim. iv. 16, and Rev. John Anderson delivering the usual charges. Im- mediately after his installation Rev. M. Brown commenced the undertaking of raising funds for the erection of a suitable place of worship. He was pre-eminently successful, and through his indefa- tigable labors and noble exertions a brick building, seventy by fifty- five feet, capable of seating 600 persons, was erected in the south- west part of the town, on lots Nos. 6 and 7 on First Street. It is the same building which is now used by the Messrs. Hayes & Co. for a coach and carriage factory. Lot No. 6 was purchased from Andrew Swearingen, executor of Van Swearingen, deceased, for $20, and No. 7 from Samuel Wherry for five pounds-the titles of these lots being vested in Joseph Wherry, John Simonson, Parker Camp- bell, Hugh Wilson, and Daniel Moore, trustees of the congregation. The cost of its erection was $3000, although for several years it was used with unplastered walls, without pulpit and pews, and a perma- nent floor, the necessary funds being wanted to complete it. The Lord's Supper was first administered in it in June, 1807, and it was occupied as a house of worship for the last time September 7, 1851, when the Rev. James I. Brownson preached a sermon, Psalm xlviii. 9: "We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple."
This history of this church edifice, from its erection to 1851, em- braces the history of all the regularly settled ministers of the Pres- byterian church of Washington.
1. Rev. Dr. Matthew Brown was its first pastor from its erection until April 15, 1823, a period of about eighteen years, when he resigned in order to accept the Presidency of Jefferson College. During his ministry, or from 1806 to 1816, he was the first President of Washington College.
The members of session inducted at different times during Dr. Brown's pastorate were James Brice, Josiah Scott, William Sherrard, Hugh Wylie, Thomas Stockton, Thomas Officer, Robert Johnston, Thomas Fergus, Oba- diah Jennings, James Orr, and Dr. John Wishart.
2. His successor was the Rev. Obadiah Jennings (formerly one of Dr. Brown's elders), who had been a distinguished lawyer and also pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Steubenville, Ohio. He was elected its pastor and his election approved by Presbytery on the 8th of October, 1823, and installed on the 23d of the same month. In 1828 he resigned and accepted a call from the Presbyterian church of Nashville, Tennessee, and died in 1832.
During his incumbency Charles Hawkins, Robert Colmery, Jacob Slagle, Robert Officer, Adam Wier, and Alexander Ramsey were added to the session.
In 1824, this church was transferred to the Presbytery of Washington
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(which, however, was formed October 18, 1819), having been included here- tofore in the Presbytery of Ohio.
3. The Rev. Samuel C. Jennings (nephew of Rev. Obadiah Jennings), filled the pulpit as a stated supply for one year.
4. In the summer of 1829 a call was tendered to Rev. David Elliott, of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, which he accepted, and was installed in the fall of 1829. He served until 1836, when he was elected to the chair of Theology in the Western Theological Seminary.
During Rev. Dr. David Elliott's pastorate, Hugh Fergus and Samuel Vance were made ruling elders.
5. In November, 1837, Rev. Daniel Deruelle entered upon the duties of pastor, and labored until October, 1840, when he resigned and accepted an agency in the General Assembly's Board of Missions. He died in 1858.
6. Rev. James Smith, of Scotland, succeeded Rev. D. Deruelle, in De- cember, 1840, and continued its pastor until April, 1844, when ill health compelled him to resign. He returned to his native country and died March 12, 1845, leaving in the hearts of his people in Washington the in- heritance of his labors, the result of his devotion to their eternal interests, looking forward to that period and to that eternal city, when and where he would present them faultless at his Father's throne.
7. In the fall of 1845, Rev. William C. Anderson, D. D., accepted a call from this church, and although not installed, he preached until January 9, 1846, when he removed to Dayton, Ohio, and is at present laboring in New Albany, Indiana.
8. In 1847, Rev. John B. Pinney was elected pastor and served until April, 1848, when he resigned to accept the agency of the New York State Colonization Society.
During his pastorate George Baird, James Boon, Joseph Henderson, and Dr. Robert R. Reed were set apart as elders, aud Isaac Hewitt, John Wil- son, John K. Wilson, and John Grayson, Jr., as deacons.
It is proper to remark at this place, that the reverend and venerable Dr. David M'Conaughy having accepted the Presidency of Washington College, in May, 1832, the pulpit was chiefly occupied by him as a supply when there was no regular pastor.
9. On the 1st of January, 1849, the Rev. James Irwin,Brownson was in- stalled pastor of the church, since which time he has been officiating at its altar, offering prayers and thanksgivings to God for his loving kindness and tender mercies to his flock over which the Holy Ghost has made him over- seer.
On the 5th of August, 1855, Isaac Hewitt, James Ewing, and Dr. John Wilson Wishart were ordained elders, and on the 12th of the same month, H. H. Clark, John Wiley, and James C. Acheson were ordained deacons.
On the 16th of January, 1859, John Wiley, H. H. Clark, and Dr. Thomas McKennan were set apart as ruling elders, and Jackson Spriggs and David P. Lowary as deacons.
On the 12th day of June, 1864, Thomas Mckean, Edward G. Cundall, Jr., James C. Acheson, and John Hoon (who had previously been an elder in the Presbyterian church at Claysville), were installed elders, and Samuel Beatty, William Praull, and M. Wilson McClain as deacons.
January 19, 1868, John B. Miller was installed a deacon.
December 19, 1869, William Davis, Sr., M. Wilson McClain, and William Praull were ordained elders, and George Davis, and Geo. W. McCombs in- stalled deacons.
The second house of worship was erected on the corner of Second and Belle streets, on lots No. 43 and 42, the former of which was given by the
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proprietor of the town, David Hoge, to General Washington, while the opposite corner (lot 102) was presented to Mrs. Martha Washington. This building was ninety feet long and sixty-five feet wide, and, including the gallery, would contain from eight hundred to one thousand persons. It was dedicated to the Triune God, September 11, 1851. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. James I. Brownson, the pastor, from 1 Kings viii. 27-30. He was assisted in the exercises by Rev. Elisha P. Swift, D.D., of Allegheny City, Rev. Dr. D. McConaughy, and Rev. James Clark, D.D., President of Washington College. The church contained one hundred and fifty-four pews, besides a gallery. The basement contained a lecture-room and Sabbath school-room. The whole building, including the purchase of the lot, cost $12,000.
We come now to speak of the third house of worship. Early in the spring of 1868 the congregation determined to make certain improvements to the church, which, according to the estimates of Messrs. Barr & Moser, architects, of Pittsburg, would cost about $8000. In removing the roof it was found that it would be neces- sary to take down the walls to the foundation. The basement, after examination, was decided to be most solid and enduring, and upon it the trustees resolved to erect the present beautiful superstructure, which is unsurpassed for architectural beanty and symmetry by any church, and is an ornament to the place. The carpenter work was awarded to Mr. Nelson Vankirk, the stonework to Mr. Hargraves, the brickwork to James Houston and John Dye.
Being built upon the foundation of the second church, it is: ninety by sixty-five feet, with proportionate height of ceiling. The walls and ceiling are beautifully frescoed. The pews, pulpit, and woodwork are in imitation of walnut; the windows of stained glass ; the spire rises in height 143 feet; the building is covered with slate; the tower contains a bell costing $500, upon which are. the words "Holiness to the Lord." The cost of the building, or. rather the present improvements, are $20,600. The lots could not be purchased and a similar building erected for less than $40,000. The church is lighted by a chandelier with eighteen burners; and forty-two additional lights. Each pew is provided with a cushion and carpeted, the cost of furnishing the church was $1800; while the matting for the Sabbath school-room cost $220.
This third edifice was dedicated on March 27, 1869, with the following exercises :-
A portion of Scripture was read and prayer offered by Rev. J. R. John- son, of the U. P. Church; a sermon from Psalm xcii. 13, and an historical address by the pastor, Rev. James I. Brownson, D.D. ; prayer by Rev. Mr. Caldwell, of Second Presbyterian Church. It was thus dedicated and set apart for the worship and service of the Triune God, WITHOUT ANY DEBT RESTING UPON IT. An offering thus made cannot but receive the approval, acceptance, and blessing of the Redeemer of the world.
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