USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Honesdale > History of the First Presbyterian society of Honesdale > Part 23
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Nearly all of the original members of the Presbyterian churches in Wayne county were of New England origin, and most of them were Congregationalists. They were stalwart Christians of the Puritan type-men and women of character. Among the founders of the Salem church in 1808, were Joseph Woodbridge, Elijah and Luther Weston, and George Goodrich.
*Note. This happened in the school that the writer attended. The teacher was a pleasant, blithesome young lady who enjoyed the pleasures of life. The boy that whistled sat next to me. The teacher cried when she heard her fate. The whistler musician whispered "I feel sorry for her, don't you?" I certainly did, but my friend was alarmed about something else, he had recently joined the Methodist church and he wondered if his class leader would turn him out for whistling for a dance. I don't remem- ber that we criticised Mr. Ward. The sentiment against balls and dancing in that community sustained the act, but the school directors, some of them, danced themselves, and they were condemned for not keeping that teacher until her term was out.
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Joseph Woodbridge contracted yellow fever in New York, from which he died in 1816, while yet a young man. He had pur- chased four hundred acres of land and was the leading Con- gregationalist in the place. His widow, Ann Woodbridge, sub- sequently, in 1818, started one of the first Sunday schools in Wayne county.
In 1832, Rev. Joel Campbell and Stephen Torrey reorgan- ized the Salem Congregational church as a Presbyterian church. At that time George Goodrich, Elijah Weston and Luther Wes- ton were made ruling elders. George Goodrich was a son of Seth Goodrich and a brother of P. G. Goodrich. He inherited the Little Meadows farm, famous as being the scene of a con- flict between the first settler, Strong, and the Indians, the next day after the battle of Wyoming. Mr. Goodrich had a large farm, with flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. He was hospi- table and it might truthfully be said of him, "His great fires up the chimney roared." He was a justice of the peace, as well as elder in the church, and was recognized as one of the substan- tial men of the township and county. His death in 1854, at the age of about 57, was a great loss to the church.
Elijah Weston was a patient, kind hearted, honest man. He married Minerva, daughter of Jason Torrey. One of his sons, Edward W. Weston, was a trustee of the Honesdale church for a number of years, and a member from 1845 to 1863, when he was dismissed to the church at Providence. He became the well known general land agent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Another son, Charles, was known in connection with the Weston Milling Company, in Scranton. Elijah Wes- ton was born in 1799 and died in 1879. When he was dying they offered him liquor in the hope of reviving his failing strength, but the stern advocate of temperance refused it, pre- ferring to die as he had lived, a total abstainer from all intoxi- cants.
Luther Weston, a brother of Elijah, was born in 1792 and died in 1872. He was an elder in the Salem church and a pillar of strength therein for nearly forty years. He and his
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good wife Lura, were good, honest, industrious Christian peo- ple. They had no children but they worked and saved for the church. Luther Weston, with an income of only a few hun- dred dollars, would head the subscription list for salary for the minister, with $100. After his first wife died he married the widow Sally Hewitt, who died in 1905, aged nearly 101 years. When Mr. Weston died he gave half of his fortune, amounting to about $3,000, to the Home Missions of the Presbyterian church, and the other half to his wife. Of subsequent elders, John A. Cook was the resident manager of the Ledgedale tan- nery as long as he lived. He was a substantial man and had a son Darwin who was Captain in the War of the Rebellion, now a lawyer in Kansas City, also a son-in-law, Captain Joseph Atkinson, in the same war, and his son George, deceased, was a substantial business man in Chicago. Two others of the elders, John Nash and Thomas Cook, were in the Civil War and the only remaining elder, Jerome T. Stocker, furnished a sub- stitute for the same war. The noble men that founded Salem church are dead and their descendants have some of them moved away, leaving the historic old church in a feeble condi- tion. Whatever may befall the Salem church the good that it has done will abide forever. All the elders are dead but J. T. Stocker who was elected to the eldership in 1872. Thomas Cook died a few years ago being over four score years old. He was a conservative, substantial Christian man respected and honored by his neighbors.
Virgil M. Diboll, M. D., came to Bethany and married Philena Collins, the only daughter of Dr. Lewis Collins, Sep- tember 22, 1818. He was made the first ruling elder of the Bethany Presbyterian church, and the same year a Sunday school was organized in Bethany largely through his instru- mentality, he being the first superintendent and that one of the first Sunday schools organized in the county. Subse- quently he removed to Centremoreland near Wilkes-Barre, and from there to Adams county, Ohio, where he died at an ad- vanced age. He was an educated man and did much work for
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Christianity. A letter from his daughter in 1858, stated that he was in Brown county, Ohio, distributing Bibles. He has a certain preeminence as being the first Presbyterian elder in the first Presbyterian church organized in Northeastern Pennsyl- vania. In 1819, Loring Parsons, Jason Torrey and Pope Bush- nell were added to the eldership of the Bethany church.
Jason Torrey was one of the parties that signed the char- ter, and he gave the ground where the Honesdale church stands and otherwise contributed to the building up of the church and congregation, and he was so thoroughly identified with the Bethany Presbyterian church, being one of its elders, and of Presbyterianism in the county, that he is properly mentioned in connection with our church history.
Jason Torrey, known as Major Torrey, was born at Wil- liamstown, Mass., June 30, 1772, and died at Honesdale November 21, 1848. When 21 years of age he sought his for- tune in what was then known as the Beech Woods and located in Mount Pleasant, in 1793, where he rolled up a log house to which home he brought his bride, Lois Mallery Welch, in 1798. He was hired by Mr. Baird to help him in surveying and he developed such aptitude that he soon mastered the art so that he became a great surveyor. He learned from actual practice and eventually surveyed a large part of Wayne and portions of Pike and Susquehanna counties. For years he spent summers and falls in surveying and winters in making calculations and maps, and the Torrey map of the county is a historical docu- ment. He was a man of indomitable force of character and he did a vast amount of labor. He located the Drinker lands in Bethany and vicinity for which Drinker gave him four hundred acres of land east of the village. He located Daniel Schoon- over's tract of four hundred acres and received in payment what is now the northern part of the borough of Honesdale. He had an arrangement with President Bolton, of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, to have the canal basin located on his land above the bridge, for which he was to give the company every alternate lot of land, but Maurice Wurts purchased Sam-
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uel Kimble's land for a small sum, and the company refused to attach the seal to the agreement which their president had made, and the basin was located on the Kimble tract. He had his land cleared and plotted and as a result two villages sprang into existence. Dr. Rowland gives the following: "He brought his bride from their home in Massachusetts with an ox team. The first house in which he lived was built by himself and man in two days, while his wife in the meanwhile occupied the sled, which had an awning thrown over it, and made herself as com- fortable as she could. The log cabin was covered with hemlock bark. Their table was a basswood log split and set on legs, their chairs were of the same material sustained by three legs, their floor was of split logs and their bedstead composed of posts set up against the side of the house and covered with bark instead of ropes and sacking. There were no sawmills in reach, nor roads to transport lumber. The nearest grist mill was at Slocum Hollow and to supply this want he built a fire on top of a maple stump and, when sufficiently hollowed, bent a sapling to which a pestle was attached to crack grain." While surveying one Fourth of July in the woods in Susque- hanna county, he heard trees falling, and upon approaching found thirteen trees nearly cut which were felled in succession in celebration of Independence. This was on the ground where Montrose now stands. Mr. Torrey was prominent in establish- ing roads, in locating the county seat at Bethany and in mat- ters of public concern generally in the county. He became general land agent for the Philadelphia land holders who owned most of Wayne county. This gave him congenial employment and influence, which together with his lands at Bethany and Honesdale, secured a comfortable fortune for himself and liis descendants. He was a man of inflexible purpose and keen foresight and he must have passed through the wilderness with great agility with his Jacob staff compass in order to accom- plish the work that he did. He was liberal and progressive towards churches and schools. His children were William, Ephraim, Nathaniel, Minerva, Maria, John, Stephen, Asa and
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Charles by his first wife and James and David by his second wife, Mrs. Achsah Tyler Griswold. John, Stephen and David are noticed elsewhere. Maria was the wife of R. L. Seely and Minerva was the wife of Elder Elijah Weston, of Salem. Maj. Torrey is buried at Bethany hard by the church of which he was one of the first elders.
Rev. Samuel Whaley, who ministered to the people of Mount Pleasant for twelve years, and who wrote a history of that township, was born in 1812. He preached at Fulton, N. Y., a short time and in 1846 went to Mount Pleasant, Wayne county. Here he remained twelve years, then he preached in Providence, Pa., for twelve years more, after which he preached in Hampton, Va., then he went west for a short time. After that he was in Cutchogue church nine years. In 1893, by request of the Presbytery of Long Island, he preached a sermon at Greenpoint, L. I., entitled "Fifty Years in the Ministry." He died at River Head, N. Y., April 14, 1899, aged 87 years. He says in his sermon: "On the 4th day of March, 1846, after much prayer for the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit, two young persons, whom God had united in holy matrimony, left Central New York. It was one of those lovely winter days of that region which makes sleighing a pleasure. For two days they glided over the beaten snow paths, full of hopeful antici- pations of what the Lord had prepared for them. The last stage of this journey led through a dense wilderness of twenty miles. Soon after entering it a heavy fall of snow began. Deeper and deeper it fell until our path was obliterated. The shades of evening drew on. Not a house nor a hunter's cabin in this wild, desolate forest where the panther and the bear roamed and foraged for their prey. Slowly and wearily our horse broke his way through the heavy snow, but the same faith which began this journey broke the silence of the desert with singing, 'Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land.' Our entrance into Belmont brought no small relief. * * Here on this summit, the Hon. Samuel Meredith, treasurer of the United States in Washington's cabi-
MT. PLEASANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
£
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net, built a costly mansion in 1796 and gave name to the place. Across the valley of the Lackawaxen on a hill rests the rural village of Pleasant Mount. Here all hearts were open to receive us. Words of welcome and blessing were abundant. On en- tering the church a man of stalwart frame and venerable for age met us. Extending both hands and suppressing his emotions, he gave us his benediction saying: The Lord has heard our prayers and sent you to preach to us his precious gospel, God bless you my dear brother and sister,' a blessing that was never withdrawn during the twelve years of our labors among that people." The person referred to here was Deacon Anson Chit- tenden, who had been the spiritual father of that church for many years. He came from Clinton, Conn., in the fall of 1812, with his family, and located north of the village. He died in 1849, aged about 80. He drew the people together and led the worship being preacher, chorister and elder when they had no minister. It is said of him that "he brought the Sabbath with him when he crossed the Delaware." He organized a Sunday school a short time after he came to the settlement, and showed his zeal as long as he lived. He was a large man six feet tall and was a fearless leader among hardy pioneers. After the church was reorganized in 1831 as a Presbyterian church, H. W. Stone, Dr. Urial Wright, Jacob Eaton and Asa Smith were elders. Henry W. Stone was elder and clerk of the ses- sion from 1831 to 1847, when he came to the Honesdale church. Dr. Urial Wright was elder from 1831 till his death in 1866. He was one of the pioneer physicians of Wayne county, being a brother of Rev. W. Wright. Asa Smith served until his death in 1862. He bequeathed $1,950 towards missions and other benevolences of the church. William R. Stone was deacon for seven years and elder for twenty-nine years, until he was dis- missed to Scranton in 1879. Ex-Superintendent James H. Kennedy, who furnished most of these facts, speaks of him in the highest terms. "He was an earnest worker in the church and Sunday school. No one did more for the church than he did. A man of education and ability a pillar in the church."
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Deacon Zenas Chittenden served for forty years as an officer of the church, and Elder William H. Chittenden for thirty-four years. James and Mary Bigelow were among the founders of the church and John Bigelow united with the church in 1829 and attended as long as he was able, though he had become deaf before his death, which was in 1884, at the age of 94. Elder William Wright, son of Dr. Wright, was an elder from 1858 until his death in 1889. He was a delegate to the General As- sembly in 1864. When the church was without a pastor he often supplied the pulpit, writing his own sermons. He did this work when he was a cripple and had to be carried into the church, Rev. S. Whaley says his parish had a diameter of fourteen miles containing one hundred and forty families, in a large proportion of which family worship was conducted and a large majority of the members took part in the prayer meetings. Of those who belonged to Uniondale and Mt. Pleasant churches, five became clergymen, four have been in the legislature of Pennsylvania, six were lawyers and eight were physicians. Of the eighty-six soldiers, who were in the War of the Rebellion from the two townships, sixty were from the Presbyterian con- gregations and one-fifth of the entire number died on the field. Well done faithful little church on the mountain, your history deserves greater amplification but this work will not permit it. Surely the noble, stalwart Christians that organized and carried onward the work in Salem, Mount Pleasant, Bethany and Hones- dale Presbyterian churches, were Christians of the heroic mold, sun crowned and steadfast as the eternal hills among which these churches are located.
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CHAPTER IX,
MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS AND SKETCHES.
Politically the church has had in its membership Democrats, Whigs, Republicans and reformers such as Anti-Slavery advocates, intense Abo- litionists, temperance men, Prohibi- tionists, and during slavery days, Colonizationists. When the Anti- Slavery discussion struck the church it found most of its members con- servatives, that is they did not exactly approve of slavery and would have been glad if it had not existed, but it was intrenched in the constitution, laws and usages of the country and they feared a disruption of the Union if the matter should be agi- tated, hence they took the position of silence and said we can- not disturb it so let it alone. Among the Honesdale Presby- terians were found a number of Colonizationists who favored purchasing the negroes from their masters and shipping them to Liberia, Africa. A number of negroes were sent there from this country, but the scheme was a failure. Among those who favored this scheme, as near as can now be ascertained, were
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Kingsbury, the Torreys and probably the Lords, Tracy and Seely. Isaac P. Foster was an intense Abolitionist and he ap- pears to have had the support of Elders Brush and Bassett for they all resigned at the same time, while those that had re- signed before were Stephen Torrey, Solomon Z. Lord and Ebenezer P. Kingsbury, Jr. In sympathy with Foster was B. B. Smith, son-in-law of Elder Brush, S. D. Ward and Horace Woodhouse, his own sons-in-law. F. B. Penniman and C. S. Minor also in later years were in the Anti-Slavery ranks. In fact as time wore on the Anti-Slavery sentiment became more pronounced and a constantly increasing number in the church were in sympathy with the movement. The final outcome was, as all the world knows, the emancipation of the slaves, whereat all the world rejoices including the former slaveholders.
The negro question has taken a different form in this gen- eration and the matter of social equality is now agitating the church. The question is before the Presbyteries whether separ- ate Presbyteries shall be permitted, covering the same territory, founded on racial differences. There is an Indian Presbytery covering territory where there are white Presbyteries and it is argued that there can be no union between Northern and South- ern Presbyterians unless the colored people are allowed to have separate Presbyteries *.
On the other hand it is urged that "God hath created of one blood all the nations of the earth" and that to permit col- ored people to have separate Presbyteries would be a discrimi- nation against our colored brethren. In this connection the following from an editorial in the Westminster will be interest- ing reading. The editor says: "In the 'no color line' argu- ment we are much interested. We are the child of old-time Abolitionists. We were a very ardent boy Abolitionist in 1854 and Uncle Tom's Cabin was our second Bible. We grew up believing no slaveholder or Democrat could enter the Kingdom
Note. Since the above was written it has been decided to permit sep- arate Presbyteries for colored people if they desire it.
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of Heaven, and the cry for rights for the negro moves us might- ily yet. But this line of defense will not check us as we ad- vance toward a union of Presbyterians in this country. We regret it should keep any one from voting for the proposed union. All the talk about discriminating against the negro seems to us foolish, if not wicked. * *
* The 'color line,' as it is being exploited by the anti-union people, is 'a bogey.' The only color line that counts as a great and controlling factor in the relation of white man and black man is the one that God drew when he made the black man." So much for a man who was taught to believe that "no Democrat could enter the King- dom of Heaven," and such teaching was not confined to the neighborhood where the editor of the Westminster resided. There were persons in Honesdale Presbyterian church, about the time of the Civil War, who if they would confess, would be compelled to make a like admission. During the war period George G. Waller was elected superintendent of the Sabbath school. George W. Woodward was nominated for the governor- ship of Pennsylvania by the Democrats. Woodward was reared in Wayne county and Waller had practiced before him as a Justice in the Supreme Court for years and admired him as a man of character and ability; as a consequence he openly sup- ported his old friend, but the lines were drawn so tightly that he found it expedient to resign the superintendency of the Sun- day school and Dr. Avery was elected in his place. We laugh at such Pharisaic conduct now, but partizanship ran high at the time preceding the war, during that conflict and for many years afterward. Commercialism has now taken such a hold of politics that conscientious men are voting with greater inde- pendence every year. It is to be hoped that the outcome of it all will be the betterment of the human race and purifying of political life.
Honesdale Presbyterian church has had a certain number of its members that have been office holders. Hon. Ebenezer Kingsbury, Democrat, State Senator; Hon. H. B. Beardslee, of the congregation, Democrat, State Senator; Hon. Thomas H.
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R. Tracy, Democrat, Associate Judge; Hon. John Torrey and Hon. Francis B. Penniman, Republicans, were Associate Judges by appointment for a few years; Hon. James R. Dickson, Hon. William R. McLaury and Hon. Isaiah Snyder, Democrats, were Associate Judges by election for the full term; Hon. Otis Avery was appointed Associate Judge by a Republican Governor, elected afterwards for a full term by both the Republican and Democratic parties and afterwards elected for another term by the Anti-Court House party with both of the old parties op- posed to him, and the last time he received a larger majority than he did the first time; Hon. Henry Wilson, Republican, of the congregation, served a short time as Associate Judge by ap- pointment. We have had President Judges Hon. Charles P. Waller and Hon. Henry M. Seely, Republicans, and Hon. George S. Purdy, of the congregation, Democrat. Hon. Otis Avery was in the House of Representatives as a Whig prior to the organization of the Republican party. Ebenezer Kingsbury and C. P. Waller were Deputy Attorney Generals, and F. B. Brown, Democrat, E. C. Mumford, Republican, and Herman Harmes Democrat, have been District Attorneys. James B. Eldred, Democrat, and E. H. Cortright, Republican, have been Sheriffs. R. M. Stocker, Democrat, and Stuart O. Lincoln, Re- publican, Register and Recorder. John K. Jenkins, Republi- can, Prothonotary. Hon. C. C. Jadwin, Republican, of the congregation, Member of Congress. H. A. Woodhouse, Re- publican, of the congregation, Collector of Internal Revenue. C. F. Rockwell, Democrat, County Treasurer. Col. George B. Osborne, County Treasurer. Besides holding these offices many members of the church and congregation have held local offices such as Justice of the Peace, School Director and Coun- cilmen. Two County Superintendents, H. B. Larrabee and D. L. Hower, were members of our church, and J. H. Kennedy was a member some years ago. Some of the best men in the church have been private citizens content to do their duty with- out receiving any office. Stephen Torrey was a Justice of the Peace in his younger days and received one of the largest votes
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ever given for a Prohibitionist candidate, as candidate for Asso- ciate Judge.
During the years the Presbyterian church has been organi- ized at Honesdale great things have been accomplished in this country and throughout the world. In this nation of universal education every community is a type of what is being done throughout the land, and all important matters relating to science, politics, good morals or religion are discussed. This was particularly true in Honesdale. The first place of meeting was in the Foster store where Kingsbury, Brush, Foster, Smith and others would meet and discuss current matters. As Foster was an extremist in matters of temperance and the freeing of the slaves those matters were frequently up for discussion. In later years B. B. Smith's book store was the place where the progressive men of the town met and discussed science and reforms. Mr. Smith followed the avocation of teaching for a number of years and he never ceased to be a teacher. F. B. Penniman, C. S. Minor, W. H. Foster, C. F. Young, and many school teachers, in later years, frequented his place and enjoyed the elevating conversations that took place there. Mr. Smith and his friends were practical reformers and they had very little patience with people that did not vote as they prayed, as they put it. The most outspoken men in the church or congregation against slavery and intemperance were found among these men. Very likely they relied upon the human arm too much, while it is quite possible that others expected to have done for the com- munity what they ought to have done themselves. B. B. Smith said that a community was responsible for the evils that were permitted to exist in it, that if Christian citizens would unite and demand the right, the right would prevail. Between these extremes is found the true course. Honesdale church had in its membership and congregation representatives of various political and scientific views and the ministers in charge have preached many sermons with reference to those views. Rev. Joel Campbell denounced amusements so severely that a num- ber of his congregation united to form the Episcopal church.
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