History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 132

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USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 132

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539

MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

Simon Brinker and William Truxal, Sr., and Deacons Aaron Ankeny, Michael Poorman, Jr., and J. B. Frez.

MOUNT PLEASANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

This is one of the oldest churches in the West. It is situate about two miles from the town of Mount Pleasant in a northeast direction, and was in old times commonly called the Middle Church. The graveyard attached was used as a place of burial probably as early as 1773, the date of the county or- ganization. The congregation, according to Dr. Smith, in "Old Redstone," was organized as early as 1776, when Dr. Power removed to the western coun- try. It was supplied by him from that period till the spring of 1779, when he became the pastor of the united congregations of Mount Pleasant and Sewick- ley. On the 22d of August, 1787, he was dismissed from Sewickley, and continued the pastor of Mount Pleasant till April 15, 1817, when, from age and in- firmity, he resigned his charge. It continued vacant till April 18, 1821, when the Rev. A. O. Patterson, D.D., was ordained and installed pastor of the united congregations of Mount Pleasant and Sewickley. This relation continued till Oct. 8, 1884.

Soon after the Rev. S. Montgomery became its pastor, April, 1886. On May 19, 1840, the congrega- tion was unhappily divided, a part adhering to the New School division. In this weakened and crippled state of the congregation it formed a connection with Greensburg. The Rev. James J. Brownson became the pastor Nov. 25, 1841, and was dismissed in Janu- ary, 1849. In 1849 these congregations united in a call to the Rev. William D. Moore, who became their pastor soon after. In October, 1851, Mr. Moore re- signed the pastoral charge of Mount Pleasant. On the 14th of April, 1852, the Rev. William W. McLain received and accepted a call from them, and was in- stalled their pastor soon after, in 1852. Rev. John M. Barnett was supply or pastor from December, 1861, until October, 1869; Rev. John McMillan, D.D., from 1870 until 1873; Rev. W. F. Ewing, the present pastor, was installed in June, 1874.

The history of the Middle Church is full of his- toric and local interest. On the 9th of October, 1874, the three congregations of Mount Pleasant (Middle Church), Mount Pleasant Town, and Pleasant Unity, which have grown from the first congregation, held with appropriate ceremonials and services the " cen- tennial celebration of the planting of the Presby- terian Church of Mount Pleasant, Pa.," the proceed- ings of which were afterwards published in a neat pamphlet. As it is accessible to most of those who are more than ordinarily interested in the subject, we shall not enter into the interesting details which it gives. It is commendable in the highest degree to those who first suggested the idea, and those who so successfully carried the project to consummation.1

MOUNT PLEASANT BOROUGH.

There were probably a number of settlers clustered together in a hamlet or village upon the present site of Mount Pleasant borough before the Revolution was ended. A house erected there in 1793 by one Michael Smith, an enterprising German, was occu- pied by him as a licensed house in which to entertain the public. A copy of the license granted him to sell wine and spirituous drink by the usual formula, and under the usual restrictions touching gambling and drunkenness, is still in existence. This tavern house is still standing on Main Street, and it is tradi- tionally the first one erected within the limits of the town.

The first part of the town (which was then indeed all the town) was laid out by Alexander McCready, who had purchased the land from Nathaniel Marshall on the 28th of August, 1797.

Like the early history of all our townships and boroughs, that of this town is hard to trace out. N. B. Critchfield, with ardent and patient labor, went over the whole ground, in order to give a satisfactory and comprehensive history of the town on the occa- sion of the centennial anniversary of "76. He found that much depended upon the recollection of the "older inhabitants," but that prior to about 1810 no trustworthy recollections went. At that time there were thirty-four houses in the village, all of which were built of logs, and of these there were then (1876) some seven still standing. Of the oldest citi- zens of the place he recalled the names of Michael Smith, Alexander McCready, Charles Fulwood, Esq., William Hunter, Conrad Keister, William Cherry, Clement Burleigh, Esq., William Anderson, James Lippincott, Rev. James Estep, John Connell, William Flynn, and David Hunter.

The first brick house in the town was built in the year 1812, on the lot at the present time occupied as a store-room, known as Isaac Stauffer's.

Owing to the location of the town in the midst of a rich and fertile country, well stocked with a very excellent class of people, and on one of the main thoroughfares of the day, the progress of the place was, all things considered, regular and, above all things, sure. The old road, known as the Glade road, which was helped by appropriations from the As- sembly from time to time, made that route a very desirable one for the great body of travel and traffic which was gathered in between the old State road on the north and the Braddock road on the south. This was the highway from Somerset by way of West New- ton to Pittsburgh. The improvement of this high- way was as regular as the improvement of the two great roads on either side of it. In time it was trans- formed into the turnpike, over whose smooth road-bed tramped the feet and rolled the wheels of the travel and inland commerce of a departed generation.

When the Somerset and Mount Pleasant Turnpike Company was organized, the Hon. John Lobingier

! We are intebted here for the kind offices of the present pastor, Rev. W.J. Ewing.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

was made its president. Upon this road .the town depended for its commercial communication with the other parts of the country until the completion of the railroads which took their place. At one time it ap- peared that the place had reached its utmost limit of development, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was built through Connellsville on the south, and when the Pennsylvania Railroad ran through Greens- burg on the north. But fate had better things in store.

ENTERPRISING BUSINESS MEN OF EARLY TIMES.

It is very evident, not to count on local authority, that there was a splendid class of business men in the early day settled here. The writer to whom we have referred has called to notice the fact that one of the institutions of the town in the early part of the pres- ent century was a joint-stock company, organized about the year 1814, for the purpose of carrying on the mer- cantile business under the name of "The Farmers' and Mechanics' Store." The company occupied as a place of business a log building which stood on the lot latterly occupied as a store-room of Ebersole, Trauger & Zuck ; that is, on the left side of the main street going northward. At that day compared with ordinary stores it was a thing to talk of, but compared with many of the establishments of the place now it was insignificant.

One who scrutinizes the old files of the county .papers cannot but observe that the business men of the borough had enterprise and energy more than common. They had advertisements constantly in the papers, and they were among the first in the county to separate the goods offered into specialties. We believe that the firm of "Stouffer & Lippincott," about 1822, then in the general merchandise business, advertised more extensively than any other country firm of their day.

APPEARANCE OF THE OLD VILLAGE.

A lady traveling through the southern part of the county in the days of the stage-coaches has left on record some observations made of the place. The village is described as one of those kind peculiar to Pennsylvania. Most of the business was done on one street, which was long and narrow. The houses were generally built close up to the street; few of them had yards in front. The majority of them were then antiquated and shabby-looking; but this no doubt was to be attributed to the flimsy material of which they had been constructed. But it was noticed at that day that there were some houses evidencing taste and refinement. The same writer remarks the high moral and social standard of the residents, and is endless in her praise of the thrifty appearance of the surround- ing country, and the evidence of thrift in the people who worked the field with their own hands.

OPENING OF THE COAL TRADE.

The Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad was completed in 1871. This, with the opening up of the

coal-fields along the line of the road and in the vi- cinity of the place, gave a .new impulse to every in- terest in the town. From that time on ita progress in all departments of development was a matter of won- der and astonishment to those who had been familiar with its former status. Many new buildings were erected, some of them of costly and durable material. Real estate soon reached a fictitious value. Men who had sold their farms or their coal at greatly enhanced prices flocked into the place, purchased houses and lots at exorbitant rates, entered into business them- selves, or started their sons in business without pre- vious training or experience. The demand for labor was augmented, and many came hither from a dis- tance to share in the rising glories of the flourishing place. So the population now on increased more rapidly than ever before.

INCORPORATION, ETC.

The town of Mount Pleasant was incorporated by act of Assembly the 7th of February, 1828. The inhabit- ants of the new borough were empowered to hold their first election at the house of Robert Hitchman, to elect the officers of the borough. These were to be one chief burgees, one assistant burgess, six coun- cilors, and a borough constable. Thenceforward after the first Monday of the next May the chief burgess, the assistant burgess, and the Council so duly elected, and their successors, should be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of "The Burgess and Council of the Borough of Mount Pleasant."

By act of Assembly passed in 1845 the incorporated parts of the borough of Mount Pleasant were allowed to choose their own overseers of the poor, and sup- port their own poor apart from the townships of Mount Pleasant and East Huntingdon. Samuel Shupe and Abraham Shallenberger, of the borough, were constituted overseers until the spring election of 1846.

The borough limits were extended in 1881 by ordinance, a copy of which is here given :

" WHEREAS, The petition of H. R. Freed, J. C. Lehman, Mra. D. Z. Trick, W. 8. Hutchinson, B. F. Mechling, Cyrus Galley, Lueynde Lytle, W. B. Neel, Hitchman & Neel, Wilson Shielde, Jacob Howitt, J. B. Hurst, Samuel Reese, E. R. Swarts, J. M. Marsh, J. J. Fox, Frank Miller, John Leonard, Rev. J. M. Barnett, freehold owners of lots and outlots of land lying adjoining the borough of Mount Pleasant, Pa., praying for admis- don, and that the same may be made a part of the borough, bes been presented to the Burgess and Town Council thereof.

" WHEREFORE, Be it ordained by the Burgess and Town Council of the aforesaid borough that on and after the 16th day of August, A.D. 1881, the following property, lots or outlots of land within the follow- ing-described boundary, shall forever thereafter be deemed and taken and allowed to be a part of said borough, and subject to the jurisdiction and government of the municipal authorities of said borough, as fully as if the same had been originally a part of maid borough, viz. : Degla- ning at a point on the old borough line on Cemetery Street, at the corner of lot of J. J. Fox, thence north 66>6 degrees, west 200 feet to a white-onk ; thence south 27 degrees, west 276 feet to centre of the pike; thence along maid pike north 5216 degrees, west 510 feet; thence south 3636 degrees, west 92 feet ; thence south 89 degrees, west 483}{ feet to a post; thence south 2715 degrees, east 767 feet to a post; thenoe south 25 degrees, cost 40 feet; thence south 6215 degrees, west 312 feet, to a post; thence south 231% degrees, east 182 feet to a corner with the old line of the borough;

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MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

thence along old line worth 03 degrees, cast 666 feet; thence south 63>< degrees, cast 364 feet ; thence north 36}{ degrees, east 257 feet to a post; thence north 53}{ degrees, west 435 feet to a post; thence north 36}} degrees, cast 132 feet to a post on Main Street; thence along Main Street south 5836 degrees, cast 154 feet; thence north 17 degrees, cast 108 feet, to point of starting.

" The foregoing ordinance has been enacted in accordance with laws made sad provided by sots of Assembly of the Commonwealth of Penn-

"As witness our hands this 16th day of Anguet, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-one.

"W. H. SMITH, " Burgess.

" WH. WASHINGTON.

" GEORGE HARTEEL.

" B. T. MROHLING.

"D. W. SHETOOK.

" W. M. JORDAN.

" Attest :

"W. M. JORDAN, Bes'y."

The first election for borough officers was on the first Monday in May, 1828. The officials for that year were: Chief Burgess, Abraham Shallenberger; As- sistant Burgess, Jesse Lippincott; Council, Jacob Rupert, Rev. Samuel Wakefield, Robert Hitchman, Jacob Kern, John Hosler ; Constable, Samuel Ford; Secretary, David Fulwood; Treasurer, John Hitch- man.

Since then the chief burgesses have been :

1899, John Lloyd; 1880, Jesse Lippincott; 1881, John Stauffer ; 1892, Jacob Kern; 1888-86, Benjamin Kempf; 1886, Christian Painter; 1886, 8. Shape ; 1837-40, John E. Fleming; 1840, Dr. W. C. Reiter; 1841, J. Armell, Jr .; 1842-45, Dr. W. C. Reiter; 1846, 8. Shupe; 1867-49, David Keister ; 1849, Dr. W. C. Reiter; 1860, Benjamin Shallenberger ; 1851-56, J. B. Jordan ; 1866, David 8. Cherry ; 1857, 4. 8. Overbolt; 1868, W. M. Jordan ; 1869, G. Kempf; 1860, J. B. Jordan ; 1861, D. G. Weaver; 1862, W. J. Hitchman ; 1863-66, John Sherriok ; 1878-80, W. M. Jordan; 1880-82, W. H. Smith.

On March 1, 1882, the borough officials were : Bur- gems, W. H. Smith (councilman); Secretary, W. M. Jordan (councilman) ; Treasurer, D. W. Shryock (councilman) ; Council, B. F. Mechling, William Washington, George Hartzel. The regular Council meetings are the first Monday in each month. Con- stable and Street Commissioner, James Foust ; Con- stable, John T. Stauffer.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Associate Reformed Church (now the United Presbyterian) organized a congregation in this place in the year 1802, and four years later the Rev. Mungo Dick was settled as pastor, whose labors with the church were continued about eighteen years. This pastorate was followed by a vacancy which lasted fifteen years, when Rev. Richard Gaily became pastor, in May, 1889, and continued until 1850. Gaily was succeeded by Rev. D. H. Pollock, who remained until 1858, and whose pastorate was the shortest in the history of the church. Rev. James Fife next became pastor. He was installed in 1856, beginning his labors as pastor in May of that year. He continued in charge until his death, which occurred July 26, 1861. Then came the pastorate of Rev. A. B. Fields, which extended from 1862 to 1867. Then, after a vacancy of four years, came the sixth pastorate, that of Rev. J. A. Nelson, who began his labors in August, 1871, and

continued in charge four years. His resignation took effect July 31, 1875. The membership of the congre- gation is about seventy. It is now in its third house of worship. The first, which was a log house, was built about the year 1812 or 1813, and was owned jointly by the United Brethren and the Associate Re- formed congregations. The second house was built in 1880. It was of brick, and was owned by the same bodies. In 1854 the United Brethren congregation sold their interest to the Associate Reformed congre- gation and built a church for themselves. In 1871 the second structure was taken down and the present house erected. It was dedicated Feb. 29, 1872. All three buildings stood on the same lot, and near the same spot. Before any of the churches there was what was called a tent, but that was simply & pulpit boarded up and roofed, in which the minister stood, while the people sat or stood around as best suited their convenience. This pulpit stood near the present grounds, but perhaps not on them. Here services were held before the church was built.

UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST.

A church for the congregation of this communion was first established in this vicinity in 1803. The first preaching by this denomination was in private houses, barns, and in a school-house one and a half miles from town, known as Bonnet's school-house where also the first General Conference was held in the year 1815. The building already referred to as being owned by the United Brethren and Associate Re- formed Churches jointly was their first regular place of worship. It was built by the public generally, but the lot not being paid for, the proprietor proposed to sell it to any person wishing to purchase it, to be used for whatever purpose they might deem proper. In the mean time the United Brethren and Associate Re- formed Churches agreed to unite in making the pur- chase, and to hold the property in partnership. Ac- cordingly the property was bought, and the deed of conveyance to the two congregations was made on the 30th day of November, 1815. In the year 1830 (the same year in which the brick house already referred to was erected by the two congregations named) the log house was sold to the Presbyterians and removed to the west end of town. After having sold their in- terest in the brick church on Church Street to the Associate Reformed Church, the United Brethren in 1854, as already stated, built their present house of worship on Main Street, which is much larger and more commodious than the building formerly occu- pied. This last building was much improved in 1874 by the addition of a tower and other improvements to the interior of the structure. As this denomination has the itinerant system of ministry, and its pastors are changed every two or three years, it would be difficult to give a list of the ministers by whom the church has been served. The present (1876) membership of the church is one hundred and ninety.

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HISTORY OF .WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The first Methodist Episcopal society in this place was organized in the year 1816 by the Rev. Jacob Dowell, who was then in charge of Connellsville Circuit. For about sixteen years the society wor- shiped either in private houses, in the old log meet- ing-house on Church Street, or in the brick church that succeeded it. The first house of worship be- longing to the Methodist Episcopal Church in this place was built in 1882, on a lot near the east end of Main Street, which they occupied for twenty-four years. The present house of worship was erected in 1856 and refurnished in 1872. This congregation was formerly united with others in the neighborhood, and did not become a separate charge until the year 1878, when it was set off as such at the annual session of the Pittsburgh Conference, and Rev. Samuel Wake- field, D.D., was appointed pastor. Dr. Wakefield's pastorate lasted two years, when he was succeeded by Rev. M. B. Pugh. The number of persons at present (1876) in full membership is one hundred and fifty.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant is, in one point of view, the oldest, in another the youngest, ecclesiastical organization in the place. The history of this denomination goes back to 1774. Their first house of worship was erected two miles in the country, on the road leading to Latrobe, where the third edi- fice of that body now stands, which is generally known by the name of the " Middle Church," and which has a very interesting local history of its own. The first preaching for the Presbyterians in the village seems to have been by the Rev. Dr. Patterson during his pastorate in the "Middle Church," probably in 1825. After him all his successors in that church served the portion of the congregation living in and near the village once a fortnight, in the evening, in the old log church already referred to as owned by the United Brethren and the United Presbyterians. In 1870, on the 15th of June, the corner-stone of the Memorial Presbyterian Church was laid, and on the 1st of Sep- tember, 1872, the building being entirely finished and furnished with the most convenient and comfortable appointments of any church in the county, at a cost of twenty-one thousand dollars, was dedicated to the worship of the triune God according to the doctrines, order, and discipline of the Presbyterian Church. On the 25th of April, 1873, one hundred and seven per- sons, all members of the old mother or "Middle Church," were, at their own request, organized by the Presbytery of Redstone, then meeting in the Memo- rial Church, into a separate society, to be known as the Reunion Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant. From that time forward Rev. John McMillan, D.D., has been and still is (1876) the pastor of this congre- gation. Seventy names have been added to the com- municants' roll since the organization.

BAPTIST CHURCH.

The regular Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant was organized Nov. 15, 1828. Of the twenty con- stituent members of the church nine were formerly members of the church at. Connellsville, and eleven had been baptized by Rev. Dr. Estep, but had never enjoyed church relationship. A few days after the organization of the church, Rev. William Shadrach, then a licentiate minister, was called to the pastorate, and on the 10th of December following he was or- dained by Revs. Fry, Thomas, and Estep. During the history of the church the following persons have served as pastors : William Shadrach, James Estep, Rev. Rockefeller, Isaac Wynn, Simeon Sigfried, Mil- ton Sutton, John Parker, W. A. Caldwell, T. R. Tay- lor, W. W. Hickman, B. F. Woodburn, G. A. Ames, and Leroy Stephens, the present incumbent. The first house of worship erected by this congregation was built about the year 1880 on Church Street. In this building, and in a meeting-house erected in the neighborhood of Pennsville, the church met alter- nately until the erection of the new edifice on Main Street in 1868. The same year in which the present house of worship was erected the membership living in the neighborhood of Pennsville was, at their own request, separated from this body, and a new church organized at that place. The membership of the church, as taken from their statistical report of 1875, is one hundred and fifty-seven.

GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH.

The first congregation of the German Reformed (or Reformed) Church of this place was organized in College Chapel, in March, 1864. The first pastor was Rev. J. A. Peters, whose pastorate extended to 1869. He was succeeded by Rev. A. J. Heller, who began his labors Oct. 10, 1869, and continued to March 5, 1872. Rev. D. B. Lady was installed June 14, 1870.

From March, 1864, to April, 1871, the congregation worshiped in College Chapel ; from April, 1871, to April, 1872, in the Bunker Hill school-house. Their present church building, on East Main Street, was completed in 1872, and since April of that year has been their regular place of worship. The Reformed Church had a membership in this place before the organization of the St. Peter's congregation. The St. John's congregation, whose place of worship is about two miles north of the town, and from which many of the members of the St. Peter's congregation came, is among the oldest congregations in the com- munity.

CHURCH OF GOD.

This congregation was organized in March, 1873.

Their house of worship was erected in the year 1871, on a lot formerly occupied by the Presbyterian Church. It was dedicated in March, 1872. The ded- icatory sermon was preached by Elder J. M. Dorner. Since its organization this congregation has been

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MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

principally under the care and supervision of the Rev. Peter Loucks. The present membership is about one hundred and twenty-five.

LUTHERAN CHURCH.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church organized a congregation in this place in 1869, during the time that Rev. Enoch Smith was pastor of the congrega- tions in the neighborhood. This congregation wor- chips in the Reformed Church, and has a membership of between thirty and forty. Rev. L. S. Harkey is the present pastor.

THE MOUNT PLEASANT MORMONS,

and in fact all the Mormons residing in this region, belong to what is called the " Josephine sect." This sect was established by the wife and sons of Joe Smith, the Mormon prophet, whose very foundation- stone is opposition to polygamy. They accept the Book of Mormon, and all the earlier revelations of the prophet. But the polygamy revelation, the last one that came to the illustrious prophet, they main- tain was inspired by the devil, as is evident from its blasphemous contradiction of the Book of Mormon, which denounces the practice of polygamy as "an abomination in the sight of the Lord." The Mor- mons here and in Western Pennsylvania are not very numerous, and adhere to the old-time declarations of the "Latter-Day Saints," and not to the principles and practices of those in power in Utah.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 132

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: