History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 66

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three months from November, 1829, as supply; Rev. G. D. Knox, for six months in 1880 as supply ; Rev. W. T. Galloway, pastor in 1881, from April 1st till September 1st; and Rev. W. W. Robison, from Sep- tember, 1881, as supply, who is now their pastor for one year.

The deacons of the Donegal Baptist Church, with the dates of their ordination, are as follows: John R. Lobr, June 14, 1884; Samuel White, March 14, 1835; Jobn Robinson, Sr., March 2, 1838; William Fligor, June 17, 1854; Rice Boyd, June 30, 1870.

MARS HILL CHURCH.

Organized in 1839. Resulted from special services held by Rev. Milton Sutton, then pastor at McKeee- port, but residing in Connellsville.

Passing by the place now known as Mars Hill, be was requested to hold services in the school-house by an aged lady of the Baptist faith by the name of Mrs. Tilbrook, the mother of John and Thomes Til- brook, both now deceased, bat well known in this county. Rev. Mr. Sutton assented, and continued to stop and preach on Friday P.M., at two o'clock, and in the evenings. As a result a number of persons were baptized, and on Oct. 81, 1840, the church was recognized by Council. The following names appear as connected with this early history : Mrs. Tilbrook, John Tilbrook and wife Anna, Thomas Copeland and wife (father and mother of B. and J. Copeland, mer- chants of Irwin), John Dinsmore and wife (parents of J. McCoy Dinsmore, of Irwin), John Kearns and wife, Jacob Grennewait and wife, Henry Greasewalt and wife (Col. Jacob Grennewalt's father and mother), Abram Leatherman and wife (sister of David Tine- man), Mrs. Col. Bigham Copeland, Mrs. Emily Grea- newalt (mother of Capt. Grennewait, Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers), Matthew Lina and wife (parents of James Linn, Mckeesport).

A number of others might be named. The first candidates for baptism were Mrs. Diana Kearns, Miss Polly McQuade; the first pastor, Rev. Milton Button; deacons, Jacob Grennewalt, John Tilbrook. The first house (a Union Church building) was erected in 1841 at a cost of some fifteen hundred dollars. The ground for building and cemetery purposes was do- nated by John Tilbrook.

The pastors of the church since its organization have been Revs. Milton Sutton, R. R. Sutton, J. P. Rockefeller, Gabriel Lanham, O. P. Hargrave (eight (one year), O. P. Hargrave (nine years). The last, O. P. Hargrave, has been pastor for seventeen years in June, 1882, an interval of five years intervening between 1868 and 1873.

Williams, from April 1, 1860, till April 1, 1861 ; Rev. | years), Daniel Webster (three years), R. C. Morgan O. P. Hargrave, from June 18, 1862, till December, 1863; Rev. James R. Brown, from May 5, 1866, till May 5, 1867; Rev. N. B. Crichfield, from July 12, 1867, till Aug. 19, 1871; Rev. Z. C. Rush, from Sept. 10, 1871, till June 19, 1875; Rev. David Williams, The present church building was erected in 1875, and dedicated May 28, 1876. Sermon by Rev. J. K. Cramer, assisted by Rev. J. J. Lightburn. for six months thereafter; Rev. W. T. Galloway, preached for six months in 1877 as supply ; Rev. W. S. Wood, for six months in 1878 as supply, and six The official members in 1882 are as follows : Pastor, Rev. O. P. Hargrave; Deacons, John Fretz, Daniel months in 1869 as pastor; Rev. John C. Skinner, for

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Grennewalt; Church Clerk, John Ogg ; Trustees, Na- than Fullerton, Christian Fretz, Capt. Caleb Grenne- walt, Dr. James Penny, Samuel Grennewalt; Sunday- school Superintendent, Alexander Wiley.

Value of church property, $4000; membership, 1881, 85; average yearly expenditures, $500; Sabbath- school members, 60.

The history of the church has been similar to most organizations. In 1868 it numbered 153 members; to-day 85. While weaker numerically, it is stronger financially.

The Irwin, Greensburg, and Coulterville Baptist Churches were in part formed from this church.

The early association of this church was with the Monongahela Association.

IRWIN BAPTIST CHURCH.

Organized in 1872. Recognized by Council Dec. 10, 1872. Received into the Association (Pittsburgh) June, 1873, reporting sixty members. Rev. R. C. Morgan, pastor; I. D. Evans, clerk; J. M. Dinsmore, J. G. Steiner, deacons. Dedicated house of worship October, 1874. Rev. R. C. Morgan resigned May, 1876. Rev. J. W. Evans became pastor Dec. 1, 1876; resigned November, 1878. Rev. G. D. Knox became pastor May, 1878, and resigned Jan. 26, 1879. Finan- cial embarrassment, and house sold for debt in 1879. Rev. J. Gemple served as supply for a few months, closing his labors January, 1880. During his minis- try the church changed its name to the Shafton Bap- tist Church. Rev. H. Jeffreys became pastor in March, 1881, and still remains in charge. J. J. Jones, deacon; J. Mountain, clerk. Membership last report, 68.

The Second Baptist Church of Irwin was organ- ized in 1879, and recognized by Council Ang. 14, 1879, with 30 members. Rev. G. W. Baker preached as a supply for a few months, closing his labors April, 1880. The church now is without a pastor.

First Baptist Church membership : 1873, 60; 1874, 114; 1875, 169; 1876, 198; 1877, 163; 1878, 107; 1879, 58.

Value of church property when sold, 1879, $5000. A Sunday-school with an average attendance of 150 pupils was kept up for several years.

Benevolent contributions and home-work :

1872.

1877

$2,089.00

1873

$3,298.50

1878 859.37

1874 2,809.00 1879

375.62

1875.

1,806.98

1876

1,689.50

$13,647.97

This is an average of $1949.71 in the seven years.

The outlook for the future is not encouraging for either the Irwin or Shafton Baptist Churches. There is some good material in both, and they may again arise in strength.

GREENSBURG BAPTIST CHURCH.

gan, pastor; Philip Clingerman, A. P. Smith, dea- cons; John Mensch, clerk. Rev. R. C. Morgan ro- signed pastorate April 1, 1874. Rev. O. P. Hargrave became pastor July 1, 1874, and is still in charge, 1882. Dedicated their first meeting-house Oct. 18, 1875. Dedication sermon by Rev. B. F. Woodburn, assisted by Rev. Leroy Stephens, Rev. J. K. Cramer, and Rev. J. S. Hutson. Sunday-school organized January, 1873. Has been a successful school under the superintendencies of A. P. Smith, John Mensch, and H. W. Walkinshaw, who is now in charge. Mem- bership in 1874, 57; 1881, 55. Near a hundred scholars have been in attendance some years. As in 1878 there was 93 pupils, other schools have reduced this one.

Officers in 1882: O. P. Hargrave, pastor; P. Clin- german, J. Mensch, D. B. Weaver, deacons; H. W. Walkinshaw, clerk. Church membership, 94; value of church property, $3000.

There has been baptized into this church 115 per- sons, 86 during the present pastorate.

Benevolence and home-work :

1874 ...

$442.25 | 1879.

8000.43

1875. ......... 627.13 | 1890

542.10

1870

1906.06 | 1881.

1877.

442.25

1878.

448.06

8472.16

This is an average of $809.02 for the eight years.

There has been connected with this church since its organization by baptism, 115; letter, 18; experience, 30; total, 163. Only 12 by letter and 17 by experi- ence in eight years. Not much help from abroad.

NEW STANTON, BAPTIST CHURCH.

In 1840 the Rev. Siegfried, of Mount Pleasant, com- menced to preach in New Stanton, and a Union Church edifice was built at that place the same year.

In April, 1842, there was a church organized at that place numbering about 37 members. The Rev. Sieg- fried continued to preach here for about two years.

In 1844 the church undertook and erected a stone edifice of its own, costing two thousand dollars. The Rev. Siegfried resigned his charge about this time, and Rev. A. Eberhart was called to the pastorate, and served the church two years. The Rev. Morris then took charge of the church and served it for some time. He was followed by Rev. Richard Sutton, who served for two years.

Rev. George White was pastor for some length of time. Rev. Lanham served the church for three or four years. Rev. John Williams, of Turkey Foot, was pastor for some time.

The Rev. John E. Thomas preached for a period of about six years. He preached his last sermon at this place from the text, "Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." Since that time the Rev. George Ames has officiated.

Organized April 5, 1873. Recognized by Council May 13, 1873, with 33 members. Received into the The Rev. (Forger) Jones served as pastor for two years. The Rev. Wood preached for some time, but Pittsburgh Association June, 1873. Rev. R. C. Mor- | had no discipline. He was followed by the Rev. Z.

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C. Bush. The last regularly engaged pastor of the church was the Rev. John Knox, who resigned about five months ago (Dec. 1881). Since that time the church has had no preaching at all. The present mem- bership is 26. Those who assisted the church in pro- tracted efforts were such men as Dr. Estep, W. Wood, Sr., George I. and Ed. Miles, Job and Kaleb Romsel, etc.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

There was no Roman Catholic congregation in Western Pennsylvania for many years after its settle- ment. In the early days of our local history some few emigrants from Germany and Ireland, who still clung to the faith of their fathers, had settled in the East, but it was remarked that even the priests were foreign-born, and that few could speak in English. The rise and growth of the church in that part of the State west. of the mountains is especially noticeable from the time of the construction of the great public works, such as the canals, the portage, and the rail- roads, when the labor was mostly done by those who had lately croeseu the ocean hither.

Up until this century was well advanced the little Catholic Church known as the " Hill Church"-that one which preceded the present St. Vincent's-was the Mecca of the faithful for a region of country of which the eastern portion of this county was a large but not the entire part. There are persons still living who remember when this congregation was made up of worshipers who had been gathered together from beyond Blairsville, in Indiana County, to beyond the head-waters of Indian Creek, in Fayette County. But even when so gathered together from such widely-sep- arated distances the congregation was small. In some districts Roman Catholics were so few that each one was known in person. It is with feelings of shame that the majority of intelligent people of the present generation are apt to contemplate the prejudices of their ancestors, most of whom from the force of circum- stances knew nothing of the ceremonial of the church, and little of its evangelical doctrines and history but what they got from Fox's "Book of Martyrs."

Among the more liberal, however, such as had little or no bigotry, there is ample evidence to satisfy the inquirer that perhaps there was never a time in our local history when those of a kindred sentiment and who were not held in the bonds of ignorance did not meet on equal ground. The first priests were hospit- ably entertained at the houses of their German or their Irish Protestant friends. They ate at their tables and lodged under their roofs.1 Two foreigners meeting had a bond of sympathy outside their religious pref- · erences not known to native-born. Times change, and it is perhaps not worth the saying that now the ceremonies of the many Catholic Churches all over the land are sometimes as well comprehended by Prot-

estant youth as by Catholic youth, although they may in general be more familiar to the one than to the other. To such the Miserere in itn matchless elo- quence increases the faith of the penitent; in the Office of the Dead the sweet memory of departed friends comes back ; to most of them it is known that in the darkness and gloom of Passion Week, through the watches of the nights which ends with that of Good Friday, the deacons chant the office of the ten- cora ; and the edifices are crowded on Easter Sun- days by a promiscuous crowd, who know that then is celebrated with " mass and rolling music" the mem- ory of the risen Lord. But there was a time when the gown of a Benedictine was thought to hold the incarnate spirit of evil, when the singing of the co- perges was in a language never spoken by Christian men, and when a simple countryman would as leave be bitten by a mad dog as get a dip of holy-water.

The history of the Roman Catholic Church in West- moreland County is so peculiarly connected with the history of Catholicity in Western Pennsylvania, and, indeed, in one respect, with Catholicity in the United States, that it is deserving of a more than ordinary notice at our hands. One observation alone, to a com- templative person, indicates that its annals posses much interest, for the Right Rev. Abbot Wimmer, of St. Vincent's, as known in the hierarchy of the church, was with those prelates who entered the Coun- cil Hall of the Basilica, in which met the Ecumeni- cal Council of the Vatican. This prelate, to whom in 1869 was accorded the enviable honor and distinction of joining the procession of cardinals, patriarche, clerical princes, and notables of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole world, was the abbot of a monastery erected on a spot which in 1769 was in the midst of a great wilderness. And this monastery is certainly a place of much interest to our people, and its institution something in which they may well feel an honorable pride.

CATHOLICITY IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

Before giving a detailed history of Catholicity in Western Pennsylvania we find it expedient to revert to its cradle in the East, namely, to Philadelphia and its vicinity.

The first traces of Catholic worship in Pennsylvania are found in the public celebration of holy mass in Philadelphia in the year 1708, based upon the follow- ing quotation from a letter of Sir William Penn, then in England, to his Colonial Governor in America, James Logan: "There is a complaint against your government that you suffer public mass in a scandal- ous manner. Pray send the matter of fact, for ill use of it is made against me here."" In a subsequent letter he adverts to the same subject, saying, " It has become a reproach to me here with the officers of the

" Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. x .; Pomm and Logan Correspondence, vol. il. p. 204.

1 The inquirer will perhaps be agreeably disappointed to discover how Frameroos are the family traditions among our early and most influential class of people bearing upon this subject.

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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

crown that you have suffered the scandal of the mass to be publicly celebrated."1

The priests celebrating the holy masses in Phila- delphia, according to historical documents, could have been no other than the Franciscan Friars Minor, Poly- carp Wicksted, or James Haddock.' The former came to America in the year 1674, and died before April, 1725, and the latter arrived in the year 1700, and died in Maryland in or before 1720.

The first Catholic Church that history records in Pennsylvania was St. Joseph's, erected by the Jesuits. Eight of the zealous missionaries with their superior, Rev. F. Segura, came to America in 1570. Betrayed into the hands of hostile Indians by an Indian con- vert, the treacherous Don Luis, all were murdered without mercy; but forty-six years later two other heroic fathers of the same society, Revs. Andrew White and John Altham, landed in Maryland with Lord Baltimore on March 25, 1634, and were soon followed by other self-sacrificing confrères, one of whom was Rev. Josiah Greaton, whose glorious mem- ory is honored in history for having brought in 1780 from Maryland to the Catholics in Philadelphia the consolation of their religion.'

The number of Catholics in Philadelphia and vicin- ity at this time cannot be ascertained; but in April, 1757, they amounted to thirteen hundred and sixty- five, scattered over Chester, Philadelphia, Berks, Northampton, Bucks, Lancaster, Cumberland, and York Counties."

Five German Catholic families, for reasons not known, but presumably to better their worldly condi- tion, 'left these Eastern settlements in the years 1787 and 1788 for Westmoreland County, having pre- viously arranged for the reception of occasional visits and the consolations of religion with priests from the German settlements at Goschenhoppen, Berks Co., Conewago,' and Philadelphia. After leaving their Eastern homes they journeyed through Huntingdon County to Hollidaysburg, crossing the main ridge of

1 Watson's Annals of Philadelphia.

" Rev. A. Lambing. The Catholic Church in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, p. 526.

" The first Catholic settlement within the bounds of what is now the Northern United States was made in Maryland, March 25, 1634. In 1774 Baltimore was a siation, visited once a month by a priest from White- marsh, who brought with him his vestments and altar service. In 1784, Bev. John Carroll, of Maryland, was made superior of the clergy in the United States, and afterwards bishop.

" Rev. A. Lambing, as above. In a map of " Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent" as it was in 1749, and which is hung in Independence Hall, inthe list of public buildings in " One Mass House."

" The station at Conewago, northeast of Gettysburg, in York County, was among the first in Pennsylvania. It was established in 1741, and served from that time on. This was the centre of a large region, from which the priests at intervals went out to visit the pioneer families of the faithful, when they slept in the woods, made meals of cold potatoes, and said mass over the rough clapboard tables of their parishioners. Many years after, when they had no churches of their own, it was no uncommon thing for mass to be said, when the priest came, in partibus, in the Methodist meeting-bouses. (See "Life of A. D. Gallitzin," by Sarah Browneon, for material used in part of this sketch. )

the Allegheny Mountains and settled in Unity town- ship, Westmoreland Co. The following are the names of the heads of these families : John Propst, John Jung, Patrick Archbold, Simon Ruffner, Christian Ruffner, and George Ruffner. They were joined in the year 1789 by Mr. Henry Kuhn, from Goschen- hoppen, Berks Co., Pa. Having settled here and there in Unity township, they went to Greensburg in March, 1789, to buy a lot on which to erect a tempo- rary church and lay out a graveyard. The land, how- ever, was presented to them, as they had only five shillings in cash.

According to agreement, Rev. John Bpt. Causey, s missionary from Conewago, came to Greensburg in the following June to confer upon the few settlers the consolation of their religion. Finding no more suitable locality, he celebrated the mysteries of the Catholic faith in the humble residence of Mr. John Propst, lying on the Pittsburgh turnpike, ten miles east of Greensburg. This was perhaps the first cele- bration of holy mass west of the Alleghenies, save that at Fort Duquesne, at the confluence of the Alle- gheny and Monongahela Rivers, in which a French chaplain celebrated the mysteries of the Catholic re- ligion for the soldiers of this belief in 1754. Father J. Causey's missionary territory was too extensive to allow him much rest, hence he departed on the fol- lowing day.

These pioneers were also visited by Rev. Peter Heilbron (or Hellbron) in 1787, pastor of Goschen- hoppen and vicinity, and in 1789 pastor of St. Mary's parish in Philadelphia. While pastor at Goschen- hoppen he laid, in the fall of the aforesaid year, at a place called "Sportsman's Hall,"" in Unity township, Westmoreland Co., the foundation of the first perma- nent Catholic settlement, on the spot where St. Vin- cent's Abbey and College now stands. More Catho- lics soon flocked to this point on account of a Catho- lic priest residing there by the name of Theodore Brouwers.

This reverend gentleman, a native of Holland, and a Franciscan Friar Minor, came to Philadelphia before August, 1789, and for a time enjoyed the hospitality of Rev. P. Heilbron. The parishioners, hearing that their pastor, Rev. F. Th. Brouwers, had a goodly sum of money to dispose of, tried their best to keep him among them, that the heavy debts on their church might be the sooner removed. Rev. F. Th. Brou- wers, however, did not yield to their solicitations, but positively declared his intention of going and erect- ing a church for Catholics destitute both of means and pastor. Having heard of the poor settlers in Westmoreland County, he resolved to go thither, and before leaving Philadelphia purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty-two acres and forty-three perches in Derry township, on the eastern bank of the Loyal- hanna River, designated, in the patent as "O'Neal's

" "Sportsman's Hall" was the name of the tract of land in the patent.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Victory." Arriving in Greensburg and not finding a suitable residence, he boarded during winter with Mr. Christian Ruffner, who resided about three miles cast of the town. Early in the following spring he in- tended to build' on his farm a residence for himself, and a chapel for the Catholics, but finding the land not very fertile and the place too distant from the settlement, he followed the advice of Mr. H. Kuba, and bought the farm of three hundred and thirteen acres and eight perches, on April 16, 1790, known as "Sportsman's Hall." By the aid of an industrious carpenter he soon reared an humble frame building of seventeen by seventeen feet, one and one-half stories high, which he henceforth inhabited. A few years after a little low log house was put up as an ad- dition to the priest's house. Previous to this the confessional and the chapel were in the oratory of the priest who was incumbent. The new building had at first no seats but a few stools for the aged. . The young and the middle-aged were required to stand, and expected to kneel upon the floor and bow their heads at the elevation. For a long time there was no stove in the building, so that in winter it is said to have been intolerably cold.1

The hardships of a trying missionary career, how- ever, soon wore out the zealous priest, and he died prematurely on the 29th of October, 1790, having be- queathed to his successor in the capacity of a duly au- thorized pastor of this Catholic settlement the prop- erties of "O'Neal's Victory" and " Sportsman's Hall" for his maintenance. Many serious troubles and liti- gations have in the course of time arisen on account of the two properties, but the settlement became the parent of numerous other congregations, and was long considered a station for colonists going farther West.'

1 Life of Rev. Gallitzin.

" The desire of Father Brouwers-his name is variously written, Browers, Branera, and Brouwers, the first is the English form-in mak- ing this purchase was to have it become a residence for devoted priests and the headquarters of the religious, who from it would attend the sur- rounding missionary stations. With this object he wished to bequeath the land to his spiritual successors, with the injunction that they should may every year one mass for the repose of his soul and three for his in- tention, but his will was so worded by the person who drew it up that a doubt was left, whence the will fell into litigation, and after running a number of years through the courts of the State, during which time the land was held and used by the regular clergy, it was finally adjudged and determined with due regard to the intention of the testator.

By act of Assembly of March 7, 1827, legalizing this will, the congre- gation of St. Vincent's Church were made the owners in trust for the use of the pastor of this real estate and appartenances. The will is here given verbatim :

WILL OF THEADORAS BROWERS.

In the name of God Amen. I, the Reverend Theodores Browers, being weak in Body, but of sound mind, memory, and understanding, and calling to mind the mortality of my Body Do make ordain & con- stitute this to be my last will and testament, viz., first I recommend my soul to God who gave it, my body to the Earth to be Buried in a decent Christian manner on the Place I now live on Called " Sportsman Hall," and a small neat stone wall to be Built around my Grave. All my Just Debts and funeral Expences is next to be Paid. Item, I give and Be- queath to my Beloved Sister Gartrudas Browers fifty dollars, all the

Many immigrants coming from the East and wish- ing to settle in Western Pennsylvania followed the above-mentioned route through Huntingdon County to Hollidaysburg, but crossing the main ridge of the Allegheny Mountains, settled in the north of it, in the vicinity of Bellefonte and Huntingdon; others found homes farther south in the vicinity of Newry, whilst a few settled on the route or near it in Sinking Valley and the contiguous region. The Catholics bere were attended by Rev. F. O'Reilly, who also erected churches in Newry, Huntingdon, and Bellefonte.

The settlement in Unity township increased in the number of its inhabitants every year, despite the con- tentions caused by some avaricious men on account of the two properties. These litigations induced Rov. F. Lanigan, s recent arrival in the colony in 1797, to lead a body of men of the same mind as he him- self to West Alexander, Washington Co., and there to establish a branch colony; but finding the land unsuitable for agriculture they disposed of it, and moved southeast to Waynesburg, Greene Co. In spite

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 66

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

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