History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 59

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The oldest church in the Province was that founded by the first settlers, who were Swedish Lutherans, and this sect maintained itself for more than a century, forming the only connecting link between the wor- shipers and their mother-country. The ministers were sent from Sweden until the year 1786, when a petition for their discontinuance was sent, because their speech was no longer intelligible. But though the distinctions of race were effaced, the creed sur- vived, was adopted by the Dutch, and extended by the German emigrants of like faith.

The most important sects next to the Quakers were the Lutherans and Presbyterians, the latter supported by the Irish and Scotch settlers, and with an active, able, and energetic ministry, who spread their doc- trines through the Province. There were also respect- able bodies of Dutch Calvinists, Baptists, Anabaptists, and Moravians. There were also among them many of the strange sects and mystical societies whose members had come from Germany to find peace and

quiet here. Of these there were the Dunkards and Mennonista. The Roman Catholics were the latest to come, and in the early days were a small body, principally composed of Irish and Germans.

The only instance of religious persecution, the record of which stains the pages of our colonial his- tory, happened in 1755. It is briefly told. The few Roman Catholics at that time in the Province would have remained contented and unmolested but for the coming of the hapless Acadians, the destruction of whose homes and whose dispersion and exile is told in the beautiful poem of "Evangeline." Many of these came to Philadelphia, where the good Quakers received them kindly. They were French Canadians, and closely following their settlement here came on the French and Indian war. Then the danger of In- dian inroads conducted by Frenchmen was enough to rouse the strongest hatred of which a man of Eng- lish race was at that time capable. In the year 1755 three Frenchmen were arrested for poisoning wells, and the excitement was at its height. The Acadians, by the interposition of certain Huguenot Quakers, were provided for by the Assembly ; but they were dispersed 'among the counties, and, broken by mis- fortune, sank into poverty and rapidly disappeared. From wild and injurious reports, and because it was said that the Irish were instigated to join the French, the professed adherents of this church were disarmed and their houses searched ; they were exempt from the militia and compelled to pay fines. Their num- ber in Philadelphia was not at this time over two thousand, and they were the poorest of the popula- tion. Their persecution was, however, only passing, and was due, not to religious bigotry, but to the wave of fear which swept over the English colonies when France let loose the savages upon their borders. With this single exception, the religious system of Penn- sylvania was one of perfect toleration, and the con- dition of religious affairs differed in no essential respect, either social or political, from that which is common to all the United States to-day. With thie simple policy of toleration to all, religion in Pennsyl- vania plays no conspicuous part in her history. There was in the early times, as it has been remarked, little ostentation connected with the varied worships. The churches or meeting-houses were, as a rule, small and plain but neat buildings, and the clergy a re- spected and respectable class, honored in their calling, but neither a picturesque body, as in Virginia, nor one of great social and political influence, as in Mas- sachusetts.

The first religious services of the English-speaking people west of the mountains were held when Chris- topher Gist, surveyor and agent for the Ohio Com- pany, on Christmas-day, 1750, read prayers from the prayer-book of the Established Church to the Indians of the Wyandot town of Coshocton, which were in- terpreted to the natives by Andrew Montour.

During the occupancy of Fort Duquesne by the

1 Hist. Coll, ix. 12. Penn to Logan, " Prepare a nervous proclamation against vice."

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French, religious services were held at the post in ac- cordance with the Roman Catholic ritual. Here were chanted the same rogations which the faithful heard at Notre Dame, and here was observed the time-bon- ored devotion at the sacrament of the mass. Here was kept the chrism for sacramental purposes, and here the priest performed the last office for the dead, which at this day are denoted in the breviary. A registry was kept of the births, baptisms, and deaths of the in- mates of the fort for the years 1758, 1754, and 1755. These are still preserved, and are now among the archives in Canada. What strikes us the most inter- esting of these records is the account of the death and burial of Beaujeu, the commander of the forces that went out to meet Braddock, and who himself was killed as well as his rival. It reads as follows : " Mr. Leonard (Daniel), Esq., Sieur de Beaujeu, captain of infantry, commander of Fort Duquesne, and of the army, on the 9th day of July, in the year 1755, and in the forty-fifth year of his age. The same day, after having confessed and said his devotions, he was killed in battle with the English. His body was interred on the twelfth of the same month, in the cemetery of the Fort Duquesne, at the beautiful river, under the title of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, and also with all the usual ceremonies by us, Priest Francis- can, Chaplain of the King, and of the above men- tioned fort. In testimony of which we have signed. FR. DENYS BARON, P. F. CHAPLAIN."

In the heart of the wilderness, on the upper Alle- gheny, near the present Tionesta in Forest County, at Goschoschunk, a village of the Munsies though in the Seneca country, David Zeizberger preached to the Indians in the fall of 1767. In the summer of the next year a log mission-house of considerable dimen- sions was erected, and on June 30, 1768, dedicated. The meetings were attended by great numbers of the Indians, arrayed in their best garments, with their faces painted black and vermilion, and heads deco- rated with fox-tails. The missionaries removed three miles above, on the north side of the river, and with their converts established a little village of log huts in 1769, named Lamunhanneck. There, on Septem- ber 1st, they began to build a chapel and dwelling- house, which they occupied before the winter, and by this time they had consecrated the chapel in which was hung a bell sent from Bethlehem,1 and for the first time the valley of the Allegheny echoed the sound of the church-going bell.'

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The first settlers, however, of Western Pennsylvania were, as is well known, of the Presbyterian faith. These belonged to a church which had an effective missionary arrangement, and which bred among her own people a class of men who were adapted beyond

all others to be the pastors of this people. It was such men as the Rev. John Steele, of Carlisle, who, in the spring of 1768, was sent by Governor John Penn to expostulate with the settlers at Redstone, and induce them to remove, as they had violated the law which regulated the settling on lands not purchased of the Indians. As there were some members of that church settled in the West previous to that, Revs. Beatty and Duffield were appointed by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia to visit Fort Pitt, and to pursue missionary enterprises still farther West. The Rev. Charles Beatty had accompanied the Pennsyl- vania contingent of soldiers as chaplain in 1755, and again under Forbes in 1758, and on the Sunday suc- ceeding the capture of the fort preached a thanks- giving sermon to the soldiers.

In religious persuasion some of the earliest settlers along the rivers, and especially about those settle- ments which had been formed by the Ohio Company, were Episcopalians, adhering to the establishment as it existed in the Old Dominion; and a majority of those in that part known as Greene County, and noticeably along Dunkard Creek and Muddy Creek, Washington County, were Baptists.' These latter had fled fromn odious laws of Virginia, which remained on the statute-book of that State long enough, when Patrick Henry made it the subject of one of his greatest efforts in favor of religious freedom, and which from the day he derided the law which threw a man in prison for preaching only Christ and him crucified became a nullity." But of the interior set- tlements of the southwestern part, at the earlier date of colonization, it is estimated that seven-eighths were of the one lineage, and adhered to the Westminster Confession of Faith, sang the songs of Israel, and piously venerated the memory of those men who had brought about the solemn league and covenant.

As we intend to refer to the religious history of our early people as it necessarily forces itself upon us in one view, we do not wish to be misunderstood in say- ing that we write a religious history in the sense com- monly taken. This is not of our province, but it is our duty to notice it so far as it is inseparably con- nected with our secular history. What we shall say is matter of fact, and our inferences will be drawn only from authenticated data. Of these records there is abundance, and from them, it is claimed, as we have before said, that the first Protestant sermon preached west of the Allegheny Mountains was by Rev. Charles Beatty, who came to Fort Duquesne Nov. 24, 1758, with the army of Forbes, who that day took possession of the fort, after its evacuation by the French, and who the next day or the following preached a thanksgiving sermon to the army.

In 1760, Revs. Messrs. Alexander and Hector Alli- son were directed by the Synod of Philadelphia to go

1 One of the Moravian settlements in the eastern part of the State. " See the article by William M. Darlington, Esq., in the "Centenary Memorial."

3 A good name for a creek in a Baptist settlement

" See Parton's " Life of Jefferson."

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with the Pennsylvania forces. In 1766, Reva. Mesers. i old name for Unity Church, on the fast-day preceding Charles Beatty and George Duffield were sent by the Synod to explore the frontier settlements and secer- tain the condition of the Indians. They arrived at Pittsburgh on the 5th of September, finding Chaplain McLagan in spiritual charge of the fort. On the fol- Jowing Sabbath Mr. Beatty preached in the fort, and John McMillan, a Princeton man, and a name high- communion services; that the men, as was their menal custom, had come to preaching with their gum, and that on bearing the commotion about the stockade the people dispersed, some of the men going towards the town.' both the missionaries preached to the people who , sounding among men, preached in 1775 among the lived outside the fort. Then they proceeded to the , people of our (now Washington) county, and in 1776 Muskingum, whence they returned to Pittsburgh, and then to their homes in the East.'

Soon after Mr. Beatty's visit, Mr. Anderson was appointed to visit this region, with the promise of twenty shillings for every Sabbath he should preach " on the other side of the Kittatining Mountains."

In 1769 the Synod ordered the Presbytery of Don- egal to supply the western frontier with ten Sabbaths of ministerial labor.

In 1771, Rev. Finley spent two months in mission- ary labors west of the Alleghenice. He came on horse- back with a single companion, to make a preliminary exploration. He is said to have been the first pioneer missionary who visited the Washington County re- gion. He purchased some land there, and in the assessment of tenants for Bedford County his name appears on the rolls.'

Rev. James Power was the first regularly ordained minister who settled in Western Pennsylvania. He passed through Westmoreland County in 1774, when be spent three months in missionary labor in the set- tlements. In 1776 he came with his family. He preached to the people at various places, where they afterwards had congregations, and supplied their wants till they organized and got other pastors. In 1779, after five years of missionary work, he became pastor of Mount Pleasant and Sewickley congregations, and of Mount Pleasant he continued pastor till he was incapacitated from age (1817). The other places of his carlier labors were at Dunlap's Creek, Laurel Hill, Tyrone, Unity, and Congruity.

Mount Pleasant Church was about two miles north- west of the present town. The town was called after the name of the meeting-house of the congregation, which name of itself is a familiar Scotch-Irish one, and is applied to various townships and meeting- houses in the earlier settlements of Pennsylvania and Maryland. On the Sabbath' preceding the burning of Hannastown, Dr. Power was in the neighboring settlement somewhere. It has always been currently reported that he was officiating at Proctor's Tent, the

1 Some of these ministers came out on a different errand than that of spreading the gospel, as Rev. John Steele, of Carlisle, who commanded

a company under Armstrong in the Kittanning Expedition, 1756.

" Without citing authorities for all our statements, we would may we are indebted in general for data for the part which refers to Presby- terianisam to " Old Redstone," "Life of Macurdy," "Centenary Me- morial," and contemporaneous authoritative documents published by authority of that church.

" Sunday was always called the "Sabbath," after the custom of the Scotch.

he received a call from the Chartiers settlement, the name of the settlement along the Chartiers Creek. He was ordained fifteen days before the signing of the Declaration. In 1778 be removed with his young wife, and from that time devoted the able energies of a long life to active parochial duties and to edaca-

" These following five ministers were bere before tipo Bedsteno Pres -. bytery was organised:

Joan FINLEY was the first of the plosser ministers who visited this ro- glee. He came co heresteck, wich a dingle comparten, to explore the country sad prepare the way for a permanent cottiement. He was at this time in the prime of life, about forty years of age; born in the province of Ulster, Ireland ; educated at the Jagg's Maner Soheel Ho was ordained by the Presbytery of New Castle in 1782.

In peres he was a fat, servons, florid little man, able to cadaso bert- chips, sad prepared as soon as circumstances would admit to cost in his lot with the new settlements. He moved thither with his family in 1783, sad sbest two years afterwards became pester of the churches of Bebe- both and Reand Hill, first called " Upper and Lower Meeting-Boness. Of these cherches he continued pester until his death, Jan. 6, 1786.

JAMES POWER, D.D., first visited the new cottiements in 1774. K. was born in Chester County, Pa., in 1768, graduated at Princeton in 170%, licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle Jane M, 1772. La 1776 ho wes ordained by the same Presbytery cine Muje, the reason bolag cosigned that "be was abont to remove to the western parts of this Province." Mr. Power moved across the messtains with all his faulty and bones- beld effects packed of horseback. The minister carried the oldest daughter ou a pillion behind him, sad the youngest in his arms. The two other daughters were seated in baskets hung en either side of an- other horse, the mother on a third, and the bossshold effects on other bornes. After performing missionary work for come five years ho be- came pastor of the churches of Sewickley and Meant Piescant. In ITS7 be was released froms the charge of the Sewickley Church, but continued with Mount Pleasant until 1817. He died Ang. 5, 1830, aged eighty-five years. Mr. Power was of medium height, erect, dleader, gracefal fa manser, and extremely nent in dress; as a preacher ho wo dieer, methodical, and evangelical.

Jouw McMILLAN, D.D., was the next man on the ground, of Irish de- toent, born at Fagg's Maner in 1752, graduated at Princeton, licensed in 1744. Ho fret visited the West in 1775. He returned the next year, bet owing to Indias difficulties did not remove his hepily to now Washington County until 1778, when he took charge of the congrege- tions of Chartiers and Pigeon Creek.' From the latter he was diemissed about the year 1800; of the former he continued pastor until about 1889. He died at Cannoneberg, Pa., Nov. 16, 1883, in the eighty-first year of bis age. Dr. McMillan was rough and brusque in his personal appear- ance and address, even slovenly. He wassix feet in height, rough-bowa in features, and with a voice that was like the rumbling of thunder.

THADDEUS DODD WAS born in New Jersey, March, 1740. His parents Were from Connecticut. He graduated at Princeton in 1773, licensed in 1775, came to the West in 1777. He became pastor of the churches of 'Upper and Lower Ten-Mile," in Washington County. Died May 20, 1798, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.

JOSEPH SMITH was a Marylander, born at Nottingham in 1736, grada- ated at Princeton in 1764, licensed Ang. 5, 1767, came to the West ta 1709. In the following spring he moved out, and became pastor of Buf- falo and Cross Creek congregations, Washington County. He preached there until his death, April, 1792, at the age of fifty-fix. Although tall and slender, fair in complexion, fine countenance, and brilliant eyes, be spoke su largely of the terrors of the law that he was called "Hellfire Smith."

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tional interests. In 1779, Rev. Joseph Smith, a Princeton graduate, preached also in that part of the county now of Washington. This was on a prospect- ing visit, and the next year he received a call. These men supplied the congregations through our part of the county for several years, Dr. McMillan preaching perhaps as early as 1775 to the men in the woods at Proctor's and Lochry's. Of McMillan much has been written and said, and it appears deservingly. Had he lived in the patristic era of Christianity, and been surrounded by such men as Tertullian and Origen, he would have been canonized. As it was, he appears to have gone part of the way, for he received the so- briquet of "Cardinal" at the time he helped to form political opinion in favor of Jefferson.

To these three ministers must be added Rev. Thad- deus Dodd and Rev. Joseph Smith, whose services were more identified with the region beyond the rivers and within the Washington County district. These five had established congregations all through the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania; they came here to stay, and they were the first ministers here at the organization of the famous " Old Redstone Pres- bytery," the mother of the Presbyteries of the West.

The Presbytery of Redstone was erected by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia on the 16th of May, 1781. It was directed to meet at Laurel Hill, in what is now Fayette County, on the third Monday of September following, at eleven o'clock A.M. The time approached, but the incursions of the Indians in the neighborhood of some of the members of the Presbytery rendered the meeting at Laurel Hill im- practicable. The meeting was held at Pigeon Creek, Washington County. There were present the Revs. Messrs. John McMillan, James Power, and Thaddeus Dodd; Elders John Neil, Demas Lindley, and Pat- rick Scott; absent, Rev. Joseph Smith.

This was the first meeting of Presbytery west of the Allegheny Mountains. The second meeting was a failure, no quorum appearing. The third meeting was also a failure, "owing to the incursions of the savages." Its last meeting as the sole undivided Presbytery of the West was held on the 18th of Oc- tober, 1793. It held forty-one meetings. Of these in the churches of the Presbytery which were and still are in Westmoreland it met five times at Rehoboth, twice at Mount Pleasant, once at Fairfield, and once at Long Run.

As all these churches, with some others within this Presbytery, were organized so much earlier, and as they have each of them a history, we may be pardoned for calling attention to them here, as we have else- where given their history at length.

REHOBOTH, or Upper Meeting-House (as Round- hill was called Lower Meeting-House), is believed to be among the oldest congregations of the Presbyterian denomination in the county. It is in Rostraver town- ship, and about nine miles from Roundhill, which is in Allegheny County. The Rev. James Finley visited

this part of the county in 1772, and preached to a few scattered whites living among the Indians. About 1778 he gathered the people here into regularly or- ganized congregations, and in 1784 he took the pas- toral charge of them. He died Jan. 6, 1795. After remaining vacant for two years, the Rev. David Smith was installed over them, and he dying Ang. 24, 1803, was succeeded by Rev. William Wylie in 1805. Dr. Wylie continued their pastor till the spring of 1817, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Johnston. These congregations, being on the border, suffered much from the depredations of the savages.

MOUNT PLEASANT Church was organized probably in 1776, when Dr. Power removed to the West. 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 Sewickley. On the 22d of August, 1787, he was dismissed from Sewickley, and continued the pastor of Mount Pleas- ant till April 15, 1817, when, from age and infirmity, 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 con- gregations of Sewickley and Mount Pleasant.

SEWICKLEY Church is supposed to have been organ- ized by Dr. Power in 1776. He continued the pastor, in connection with Mount Pleasant, till August, 1787, when he resigned the pastoral care of Sewickley. The charge continued vacant until, in union with Long Run, it became the pastoral charge of the Rev. Wil- liam Swan, Oct. 16, 1793. It again became vacant Oct. 18, 1818. In 1821 the congregation united with Mount Pleasant, and called 'Rev. Patterson to the pastorate.

LONG RUN, it is said, dates as early as the Red- stone Presbytery, 1781. It was supplied by the Pres- bytery till 1793, when it united with Sewickley, and called Rev. William Swan to become their pestor. He continued their pastor till Oct. 18, 1818, when he resigned this united charge, but in the following sum- mer was again installed pastor of Long Run alone, and continued in this relation till, at his request, it was dissolved April 17, 1822.

FAIRFIELD was early organized, and after being supplied by the Presbytery for a number of years, it at length, in connection with Donegal and Wheat- field, obtained as its pastor the Rev. George Hill, who was ordained and installed among them Nov. 18, 1792. He continued the pastor of this church until his death, June 17, 1822. On the 17th of June, 1824, the Rev. Samuel Swan was ordained pastor of Fair- field, in connection with Ligonier and Donegal.

UNITY was organized about 1776. There was preaching here for a number of years before there was a church. The place was known as Proctor's Tent. The present church is the third building of the congregation. Among its first members were the Proctors, the Lochrys, the Sloans, Craigs, and Wil- liam Findley. They were at first served by supplies.

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Their first regular pastor was Rev. John McPerrin, who served for them from 1791 to 1800, who had the congregation of Salem also in his charge. Neither the Salem nor the Congruity Churches had congrega- tions as early as the Unity Church, but they were all organized at about the same time. They were all within the Redstone Presbytery. Rev. Samuel Porter was the first pastor of Congruity and Poke Run con- gregations. He was ordained in company with the Rev. McPerrin, Sept. 22, 1790, and installed pastor.

To be a missionary then in a region like this, which was in partibus infidelium, was perhaps as much in labors and in fastings as it was in the days when the old missionaries lived, around whose lives centres the halo of unearthly glory. Paul was not in more bodily danger when he preached on Mars' Hill than was Zeisberger among the Indians of Tionesta. These were dependent on charity for their food; they were daily and nightly in danger from wild men and wild beasts. In the depth of the forest they often lay down on the bare earth with stones for pillows, and under the watchrul stars gave their souls to God. They suffered from cold, and often from inhospitality, and for a good share of life lived among a rough people in a cheerless climate, and fearful of helpless old age. They preached to half-dressed men in the woods, who stood leaning on their rifles, and the first meeting of their Presbytery, in 1781, was put off on account of the Indian incursions of that year.

The men of the Redstone Presbytery have been praised by some who knew their worth. From Brack- enridge to Doddridge is a wide gap, but the doubting philosopher touched his hat with the Doctor of Divinity in the exclusive establishment to the energy, the simplicity, and the sound doctrine of these simple fathers, and admitted that the preachers contributed much to that happy change in the civil state of the border. These men had, indeed, a most wonderful hold on the people, and did shape their civil as well as their moral ends. A great part of this effective- ness was no doubt owing to their way of assimilating with the people. The distinction between minister and layman was never once forgotten. There was a stereotyped difference, and yet the distinction could not casually be observed. No Franciscan that ever begged alms and shrived souls had more influence in a spiritual sense than had these early missionaries and the subsequent pastors. They were respected by that race which owned no allegiance to any prince or potentate of that race which, in its rags, was as proud as the Castilian Dons. At the same time they coa- lesced with and became part of the people. They struggled with the first settlers in the fields, in dan- gers from the Indians, and in all the privations of set- tling a new country. They had often to work with their hands for their food, and to keep their little ones from crying for bread. But most of them attained to a good old age, and they had the happy satisfaction of seeing the evidence of their work with their own eyes.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 59

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

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