History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 63

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Rev. M. J. Steck was the father of eleven children.

1 Literally-"O Mike, I am so very glad that you were lucky in get- ting through, for for a long time I thought you would stick, and I couldn't help but cry."

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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

Some of his descendants reside in Westmoreland County, and are worthy progeny of so noble a father.

REV. JONAS MECHLING was born in Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, on the 14th of Au- gust, 1798, and died on the 2d of April, 1868, in the seventieth year of his age, and in the forty-eighth year of his ministry, dating from the time of his licensure.

At a very early age he was inclined to the office of the ministry, and began his preparatory studies as soon as opportunity was afforded him. After his pre- liminary studies were completed he pursued the study of theology, under the care of Rev. Pastor Schnee, of Pittsburgh, and finished his theological course under the care of Rev. Father Steck, of Greensburg.

After having passed a creditable and successful examination, he was licensed on the 19th of Septem- ber, 1820, by the District Synod of Ohio. After his licensure he immediately became a co-worker with Father Steck, whose field had now become very large and imperatively demanded additional laborers. He was a missionary rather than a settled pastor, for he served congregations and preached at points which were quite remote from each other. He took charge of St. James' and Hankey's, in the northern part of the county, Barren Run and Forks Church in the western part, Kindig's and Swope's in the central part, and Donegal's and Brandt's in the southern part of the county. At these different points so distant from each other he labored for several years with fidelity and success.

In 1827 he was relieved of the congregations in Bell and Franklin townships, and took charge of the churches at the Ridge and Youngstown. He served these congregations till the autumn of 1848, when he became pastor of the Greensburg charge. He now resigned the churches in Ligonier Valley, and as soon as a suitable pastor could be found he gave up the churches west of the Ridge.

His whole ministerial life was spent in Westmore- land County, serving a large number of congregations in different sections of the county and remote from each other, but the last twenty years of his life were devoted to the Greensburg charge, including the First German Church, Greensburg, Harrold's, Brush Creek, and Manor.

Rev. Jonas Mechling was well and favorably known in this county, and as a minister has exerted an im- portant influence on the Lutheran Church. Many of those to whom he ministered in holy things kindly remember him and bless his memory for his self- denial and earnest fidelity on their behalf. His sim- plicity of manners, his amiable disposition, and his even temper, together with his social culture and Christian character, won him many friends, and has embalmed his name in the hearts of those who knew him well.

His fidelity to his Master, and his zeal and earnest- nees in the performance of his official duties, may be

gleaned in some measure from a brief abstract of his ministerial acts. His official record, kept with the greatest care, furnishes sufficient evidence of his zeal for God and his success in the work of the church. During the forty-eight years of his ministry he preached six thousand three hundred and twenty- seven sermons, not including many hundreds of funeral sermons. He baptized six thousand two hun- dred and eighty-six persons, confirmed two thousand and thirty-nine, and performed eight hundred and ninety marriages.

Devoted to his work in the church, he was also faith- ful to his family and society. He was an affectionate husband, a kind father, a worthy and good citizen. . Joined to a woman of true Christian virtue and grace of spirit, and devoted to her by the tenderest affec- tions, he was happy in his family relations. His wife, a woman of most amiable disposition and Chris- tian character, and five children, four sons and one daughter, survive him, and now that he has been gathered to his fathers his name and memory is held in high esteem by his family and friends, and by all who knew him when he was among them.

THE PITTSBURGH SYNOD .- The Rev. Mr. Ulery, pastor of the English Lutheran congregation at Greensburg, collected some very pleasing memoirs of the early founders and ministers in the Pittsburgh Synod, and in a discourse to his congregation gave his labors. This discourse dwells at length on the life and services of fourteen ministers who had been members of the Synod, but who were then dead. From the labors of Mr. Ulery we give the following sketches :

REV. MICHAEL EYSTER was born in York County, Pa., 16th May, 1814, and died 11th August, 1853, in the fortieth year of his age. At the age of thirteen he was sent from his father's farm to the town of York to stand as a clerk in a store. While engaged in this occupation he resolved to devote himself to the gospel ministry. He entered Marshall College, then located at York, and pursued his studies there until the col- lege was removed to Gettysburg, whence he also fol- lowed it, and where he finished his literary and theo- logical course. In the fall of 1838 he was licensed to preach by the Western Pennsylvania Synod. He soon after accepted a call from the Williamsburg pastorate, in Huntingdon County, Pa. Here he la- bored for eight years. In 1846 he removed to Green- castle, Franklin Co., Pa., where he discharged the duties of his calling with the same fidelity which had characterized his former pastorate. Here his wife died, and this led to his removal. In 1849 he re- ceived a call from the churches at Greensburg, Adams- burg, and Salem Cross-Roads, this county. In the fall of 1849 he removed to Greensburg, and con- tinued his labors in the Greensburg pastorate, as the successor of Rev. M. J. Steck, until his death in 1853. The bodies of these two pastors lie side by side in the German burying-ground.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

His character has been portrayed in the words as we quote them : "He was a mau of decided views and deep Christian experience. His faith was as simple as that of a child, and his piety as sincere as his faith was simple. He was a man of uncommon purity of character and uprightness of purpose. He possessed a kind, genial, catholic spirit, but he was not afraid to avow his opinions because they might conflict with those of his fellow-men. It mattered not to him who were with him or who were against him; it was enough to know he was right, and with this conviction he was prepared to stand up against the world. As a preacher. he was solid, clear, fluent, · logical, and convincing. Both his manner and matter were original. He spoke often with much pathos and affection, and had great power over his andience. The effect he left was generally abiding. Few men could speak so fluently, and yet so profoundly, on any subject that might be presented."

REV. HERMAN MANTZ was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, Aug. 11, 1821. In his twenty-sixth year be was sent by Fati.ur Gosner, of Berlin, as a candidate for the ministry. Soon after his arrival he spent several years at Zelienople, where he spent some time in studying English and theology under the direction of Rev. Gottlieb Bassler. In May, 1848, he was li- censed by the Pittsburgh Synod, and accepted a call from the German churches at Prospect, St. John's, and Petersburg. Died Dec. 15, 1853.

REV. SAMUEL B. LAWSON was born on the 27th of August, 1808, and died on the 7th of February, 1864, in his fifty-seventh year. After finishing his theo- logical course he was licensed in 1844 by the Alle- gheny Synod, and was regularly ordained by the same body in 1846. He labored for some time in Somerset County in connection with that Synod. In 1853 he removed to Fryburg, Clarion Co., and took charge of congregations in the Pittsburgh Synod. In 1859 be removed to West Newton, Westmoreland Co., and continued to labor there until his death.

REV. FREDERICK RUTHRAUFT, son of Rev. John Ruthrauff, of Greencastle, Pa., was born on the 25th of October, 1796. In 1820 he commenced the study of theology under the care of Dr. J. G. Lochman. In 1822 he was licensed by the Maryland and Vir- ginia Synod to preach. His first charge was at Wil- liamsport, Pa. He then preached successively at Elizabeth, Lancaster Co., Pa., at Manchester, Md., and at Loysville, Centreville, Milton, and Worthing- ton. To the last place he removed in 1858, and thus became a member of the Pittsburgh Synod. He died Sept. 18, 1859, in his sixty-third year.

REV. JOHN A. DELO was born in Clarion County, Pa., April 16, 1826, and died Nov. 1, 1864, in his thirty-ninth year. He studied for the ministry under the oversight of Rev. S. D. Wilt, of that county, and in 1849 was licensed by the Allegheny Synod. He, however, accepted a call in 1860 from the Apollo charge, Armstrong County. He filled a chaplaincy in

the Federal army during the war, and afterwards re- moved to North Washington, where be died.

REV. DANIEL GARVER was born in Washington County, Md., Jan. 9, 1880; was educated at the Peas- sylvania College; licensed June, 1852, by the Symod of Pennsylvania. From his graduation until 1868 he had occupied a professor's chair, had been ca- gaged in missionary labor in the West, and had passed one year in Europe. In 1859 was pastor of the congregation at Canton, Ohio. In 1865 was called by the congregation at Greensburg, for whom be la- bored until his death, Sept. 80, 1865, in the thirty- fifth year of his age and the fourteenth of his mia- istry.

REV. SAMUEL D. WITT became a member of the Synod in 1835, and remained in it until his death at Circleville, Ohio, Aug. 27, 1851, in his thirty-eighth year.

REV. GOTTLIEB BASSLER was born in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, Dec. 10, 1813, but came to America with his parents when quite young. They settled in Butler County, Pa. When foarteen years of age he walked in his bare feet to Greenburg to learn the printing trade with Jacob Steck. He afterwards entered Pennsylvania College, was graduated in 1840 with honor, and the same year commenced his studies at the seminary ; licensed in 1842. In the spring of 1845 he took a prominent part in the organization of the Pittsburgh Synod, became principal of the acad- emy then established by the Synod. He also labored in the churches in Butler County, and established new congregations. In 1852 he became associated with Rev. Passavant in the orphans' work, and con- tinued in that department until his death in. 1868, October 3d, in his fifty-fifth year.

REV. JOHN RUGAN was born in Philadelphia, on the 27th day of January, 1817. He spent a portion of his youth in that city, and after having received a preparatory education he entered Pennsylvania Col- lege, situated at Gettysburg, in this State, where he graduated in the fall of 1848. After his graduation he spent two years in the theological seminary at Hartwick, N. Y., in the study of theology, and in the year 1845 he was licensed by the ministerium of the State of New York, which met at Albany. After his licensure he received a call to the pastorate at Sandy Lake, near Troy, where he remained, performing all the duties pertaining to the pastoral office, for about two years, until the autumn of 1847, at which time he was called to become co-pastor with Rev. Mi- chael J. Steck, at Greensburg. He also took charge of St. James' Church, situated in the northern part of the county. In this field he labored with great suc- cess. In January, 1848, he organized Zion's Evan- gelical Lutheran congregation at Greensburg with forty members, and the following spring he organized Trinity Evangelical Lutheral congregation at Ad- amsburg, which he served as pastor till the following autumn. After resigning Greensburg and Adams-

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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

burg congregations be devoted his time to St. James' and Salem for several years. Then he removed to Somerset, Ohio. He labored a number of years in Ohio with good success. His last field of labor was Vandalia, Ill., where he built up a flourishing con- gregation, and in this field he labored until his death.

Besides these, continued the manuscript from which we have derived these brief memorials, there were four other clergymen who had been numbered with the Pittsburgh Synod at that time whose names and memories are even yet dear to the members of their church. These were Reva. John Esensee, Charles H. Hergh, Adam Long, and Christian D. Ulery.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.'

We regret that we have not been able to give a more detailed history of the United Presbyterian Church of Western Pennsylvania and of Westmore- land than it is possible for us to give here. We are, however, not in blame, for the documentary records which we have looked over contain little of interest or information to us. The reader must, for further information, turn to the history of the different con- gregations in the local department of this work. But a church which has produced such an able pioneer ministry, and shaped the morals of such a large num- ber of our people, should lose no time in collecting and arranging their early congregational and ecclesiasti- cal history, that it may be preserved.

The only Presbytery of this church in Pennsylva- nia down to 1776 was the "Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania," and the earliest preserved record of its proceedings which we can find is dated "Oxford, June 27, 1762." But at a meeting on May 20, 1776, the Presbytery resolved to divide into two, the one to be called the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, consisting of the following ministers: Revs. James Proudfoot, Matthew Henderson, William Marshall, John Rodgers, John Smith, James Clarkson, James Martin, and John Murray; the other to be called the Associate Presbytery of New York, consisting of Reva. John Mason, Robert Anan, Thomas Clark, William Logan, and Andrew Patton.

From the original manuscript minutes of the Pres- bytery to which this region of Pennsylvania belonged, it is seen that Mr. Proudfoot supplied Westmoreland in the fall of 1775. There is also this entry : "At Oxford, Nov. 4, 1775. . . . Petition received and read from Fairfield, in Westmoreland County, craving supply and ordination of eldera, together with the dis- pensation of Baptism and the Lord's Supper." There were many other petitions of a similar nature, and upon their consideration the Presbytery " agreed that Mr. Murray and Potter supply New York Province, Mr. Logan at Fort Pitt, and the vacancies in Cumber-

land and Northumberland Counties be supplied with an actual minister. Appointed Mesers, Henderson, Rodgers, and Smith as a committee to draw up a scheme of appointments to be laid before next side- runt." Mr. Logan was announced for Fairfield in De- cember, and for the Yough on January 6th following.

The following also appears: " At Mr. Miller's house, May 8, 1777, 9 o'clock A.M., at which time and place the Presbytery being met and constituted, etc., a mo- tion was made and supported that the Presbytery now reconsider the clauses in the petitions from West- moreland and Northumberland respecting a minister's settlement among them; accordingly the commis- sioner from Northumberland presented a petition for a moderation, which was read. A committee was ap- pointed to converse with Mr. Patton, which having done this reported that his present inclinations rather lay towards the people in Tobit and Buffalo town- ships, for which rescon the Presbytery did and hereby do grant to these people in said places the moderation of a Call, and also to the people in Westmoreland, the moderation in Northumberland to be held on the 9th of September (by Mr. Logan), and at Chartiers on the 15th of said month by Mr. Proudfoot."

This extract from the "Minutes of Proceedings of the Second Associate Reformed Presbytery of Penn- sylvania" gives the account of the formal division of the Presbytery :

" Yever Merrie-Boves, June 3, 170%.

" After a sermon preached by Mr. Adam Rankin from Eph. ii. 19, 'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,' etc., the Second Associate Reformed Presbytery of Pennsylvania met and con- stituted with prayer by the moderator, by virtue of a resolution of the Associate Reformed Synod, which is as follows: June 3, 1793, Resolved, That the Pres- bytery of Pennsylvania be divided into two by the names of the First and Second Associate Reformed Presbytery of Pennsylvania, the Second to consist of Mr. Jamison, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Warwick, and Mr. Rankin, with their elders, and that they meet and constitute, the senior minister preaching and presid- ing, at such time and place as they will find most convenient.

" ROBERT ANNAN, " Moderator of Synod. " Present, Mesers. Rankin, Henderson, and War- wick, ministers; Messrs. Richard Steel, James Wil- son, and Jeremiah Pearce, ruling elders. Appointed Mr. Henderson clerk pro tempore. . . . "

The next meeting was held at Laurel Hill Meeting- House 12th August, 1793, Jamison, Henderson, and Warwick, ministers, and James Wilson and James Findley, elders, present. "Received and read a call, including a petition, for the Rev. John Jamison from the united congregations of Brush Creek, Hannah's Town, and Connemangh. Heard a verbal petition from Short Creek, Three Ridges, and Buffalo, by Mesers. Stuart and Sharp, praying for a supply of

1 The denominational name, "United Presbyterian," for this church in North America dates from 1888, when the Associate Presbyterian (from 1754) and the Associato Reformed (fremm 1782) were united under that Mme.

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254 HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

preaching. . . . Presented the call to Mr. Jamison, which he accepted. Appointed the sacrament of the Supper at Loyal-Hanning the last Sabbath of this month, Mr. Jamison to preside and Mr. Henderson to assist.

"Resolved, That Mr. Jamison's edict be served at Loyal-Hanning the Monday after by Mr. Henderson. " Appointed the sacrament of the Supper at Broch Creek the second Sabbath of October. Mr. Jamison's installment the Friday preceding; Mr. Warwick to preside and Mr. Henderson to assist.

" Appointed Mr. Henderson to Three Ridges the third Sabbath of September. Adjourned to meet at Loyal-Hanning the 26th inst."

At next session " heard a verbal petition from Li- gonier Valley by Robert Hemwell (?) for a supply of preaching," but no action was taken upon it at that sitting.

The next session of Presbytery was held at Brush Creek Meeting-House, Oct. 11 and 14, 1798.

Brush Creek Church, afterwards Bethel, was the third in the coun.,, organised 1796-97. Its first pas- tor was Rev. Matthew Henderson. Additional in- formation on this church and its early history within the county will be found in the local department of this work, and especially in the history of the Fair- field Church, Fairfield township.

METHODIST.

The first Methodist society in the United States was formed in New York in 1766, by some Irish cmi- grants. The history of the church from that day to this in the United States is one of the marvels of modern times. From the peculiar organization of its clerical body it was pro-eminently the proselyting church of the latter day. Its itinerant preachers fol- lowed the people in all directions, and even to the very utmost bounds of civilization. The doctrine which they preached was calculated to arouse the slambering passions of a people who had gotten at their mother's knee the first ideas of the Christian doctrines of future punishment and future felicity.

Of Methodiem we see more and know less than of any other religious denomination. The growth of this church organisation has been regarded by all contemplative philosophers as one of the marvels of later times. The most philosophical of modern his- torians-himself a statesman of enlarged and just views, and a man not afined to the founders or the the cause of Methodiem-has said that no man since the time of Cardinal Richelieu has been the equal of John Wesley as an organiser of latent forces. But when one familiar with the status of the Methodist Church to-day observes that it is not much from a century since John Whitedeld preached in the shade

STATISTICS from the Minutes of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Churches, 1881. Thess churches are all within the Westmoreland Presbytery.

Ministers and Correspondents for Vacances.

Post-Ofice and State.

Presbytery.

Profundoa.

Certificate.

Infat.

Officers and Teschess.

Number of Schelars.

Oliver Katı ...

Saltaburg.

Baltsburg. ....

......

...

A. L Young ...

Wm. B. Stevenson.

Turtle Creek. West Nowton. 4

West Newton, 3%

Bewickley, .

E. Z. Thomas ..

Negley. LAgonier.

Fairfeld (3) ....

168

-.....

115

Mount Pleasant, 3% ...

--.

Josias Stevenson.

Greensburg.

A. R. Rankin 44

Beulah, 1 ...

......

------

C. B. Hatch.

Irwin ......

18.

Correspondents.

Vacancies.

Joseph Bom ..

Youngstown. Parnassus.

Logan's Ferry ....... ......

B. L. Calhoun, M.D.

Parnasrod ........

Jobn &baw ...

Stewart's Station. Watt's Mills.

Madison ...

Without Charge.

A. Young, D.D., LL.D., Professor.

8: B. Stewart .....

J. A. Scroggi-22

Parnassus. Paulton. Latrobe.

Liostiates, 1.

Studenta, 0.

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-....

......

Stewart's Station.

131

George W. Kelley

Laurel Hin

......

Murraysville, X .. ..........

D. M. Thorn

Buena Vista. Irwin's Station.

Buena Vista.

......

100

Unity ......

150

Wm. H. Vincent, 8. O .. M. M. Patterson ....

Parnassus. 4

Puckety, X-

188

Allegheny, -

J. N. Dick, D.D. R. B. Taggart.

Irwin's Station. Mount Pleasant. 8

Scottdale, 3% ....

Greensburg. ...

Latrobe, 12

......

8. B. McBride.

Laurel Hill. Murraysville.

190

Donegal ...

D. Alter, M.D ...

N. Alexandre, -

Turtle Creek .......

198

[~ |

Bethel (Westmoreland)

......

8888

......

255

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

of the forest-trees to the straggling hearers around him in the eastern portions of the United States, the conclusion is reached without argument.

But from the very nature of the Methodist system is one precluded from writing its local history, espec- ially if that extends over any length of time, for they in early days kept no records in their churches, nor minutes such as were to be preserved and treas- ured. Their itinerant preachers were, generally speaking, uneducated, if not illiterate, and in this they much prided, for they openly discouraged classical education and the higher grade of colleges, and under the plan of changing their pastors it was seldom that any one pastor remained more than a very few years at one charge. But from the same and other. causes may we partially come at the causes of its wonderful numerical advancement. The early church started out with the motto of John Wesley, " My parish is the world," and entered into the world filled with missionary zeal and the hope of success. Laying hold of the common people by adapting itself to their capacity and circumstances, and gathering them together and setting them at work in class-meetings, camp-meetings, revivals, and in all sorts of ways, it has reached out and gathered in a large number of all classes of people. It then preached only Christ, and it cared not when or where or how. So, too, did it give its meeting-houses for any preacher of any Christian Church in which to preach, and it is nar- rated that the first missionary priests on frequent occasions said mass in their meeting-houses. But nothing could abate the zeal of their early ministers, both clerical and lay. Whatever may be said of the illiteracy of its itinerants it is evident that they were peculiarly adapted to their calling, and that they labored with success. Of wages and hire they got little or nothing. They passed and repassed up and down the whole land and had no abiding-place, for they knew, with the early apostles, that if the earthly house of their tabernacle were dissolved, they had a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

From the days of the earliest settlements west of Laurel Hill the country was not without law, neither was it without the gospel. The Methodist preachers were here the very first year of their church organi- zation; but not so early as the Presbyterians or the Baptists. This whole region into which the Meth- odist itinerants came was named in their ecclesiastical divisions the Redstone field. In 1784, John Cooper and Solomon Breeze stand in the minutes for Red- stone; in 1785, Peter Moriarty, J. Fidler, Wilson Lee; for 1786, John Smith, Robert Ayres, Enoch Mat- son, elder. They made their entrance at Uniontown, in the immediate neighborhood of which were many Church of England people and a few Methodists. But they had been preceded by Robert Worster, a local preacher of piety and considerable talent.

The growth of this communion here is a subject of

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 63

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

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