USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Honesdale > History of the First Presbyterian society of Honesdale > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
61
THE CHURCH AND SESSION.
week for services. Rev. Mr. Rankin accepted the invitation and continued to occupy the pulpit, on the invitation of the session, for four Sabbaths, until Dr. Swift returned. At this meeting the elders arranged to take charge of the Wednesday evening prayer meetings by appointing leaders from the session. And here it should be stated that the week of prayer is regularly observed in this church, and with the exception of one meeting, which is conducted by the pastor, the other meetings are con- ducted by the elders of the church.
At the meeting of session October 3, 1902, the clerk re- ported the death of Mrs. Swift, who died August 25, 1902, aged 57. The church sympathized with its pastor in the great loss which he sustained in the death of his companion.
Dr. Swift is an eloquent preacher of great power in the pulpit. His principal theme is the love of God as manifested in the sufferings and death of his Son Jesus Christ. He pre- sents Biblical truth vividly and calls upon his hearers, rich and poor, high and low, to repent, and classifies all who have not repented as sinners in a state of rebellion against God. He is broad in his sympathies and he calls upon his congregation to extend the helping hand to the downfallen and degraded as well as to the more respectable. His funeral sermons are con- siderate, kind and consoling. The dignified language of Scrip- ture and the fitting word of remembrace are uttered with be- coming solemnity, leaving the most hopeful view for the future of the dead that is permissible under the circumstances. Dur- ing the twenty years that Dr. Swift has been pastor of the church he has conducted 446 funerals, a number of which have been for people outside of his congregation. He has also per- formed the marriage rite 250 times. His regular Sunday ap- pointments are morning and evening sermons, Bible class 1 p. m. and service at Seelyville in the afternoon about once every four weeks. He usually attends Christian Endeavor meeting for a short time, just before evening service, and generally takes charge of the Wednesday evening prayer meetings, lead- ing the singing. In addition to this he faithfully calls upon
62
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
the sick of the congregation and occasionally makes addresses to the G. A. R. and on other occasions, not specifically church work. He has been Moderator of Lackawanna Presbytery three times and has been Chairman of the Synodical Sustentation Committee of the Presbytery for a number of years. He has an annual vacation during the summer of four or five weeks --- and for the last five years has been chaplain of the Thirteenth regiment, National Guards of Pennsylvania, and goes to camp with the regiment annually, during July or August, for ten days. The discharge of all these duties, engages the heart and intel- lect of the pastor. Surely the pastorate of a large church with its multiform interests is no sinecure. The pastor is sustained by a session of eight elders, nine trustees, three deacons and a congregation that is willing to do much work, and yet there is room for much more work to be done. Considering the great responsibilities that devolve upon the pastor, the elders and others may well consider whether they do all they should to uphold and sustain the great cause of which the church is the exponent and embodiment.
The church is moving onward however. We have begun the Twentieth century under favorable circumstances and we trust with the continued blessing of God that the Honesdale Presbyterian church will make a grand record in work for the Redeemer of mankind during the century upon which we have entered.
63
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
CHAPTER III.
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
Honesdale Presbyterian church has been fortunate for the most part in its Pastors, Elders and Deacons. The pastors of the church have been Rev. Joel Campbell, first pastor and organ- izer, from 1829 to September 27, 1836; Watters Warren, supply for about one year, until November 1837; Rev. Joshua Bas- combe Graves, from November 28, 1837, until September 29, 1842; Rev. Dr. Henry A. Rowland, from March 23, 1843, until December 20, 1855; Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, from March 18, 1856, until June 29, 1859. There were supplies of Rev. Dr. J. W. Scott, Rev. David Torrey and others until Rev. Charles Seely Dunning was installed June 25, 1861. He resigned February 9, 1879, and was granted one year leave of absence with a salary of $1,000, meanwhile his brother, Rev. William Dunning, supplied the pulpit during most of the year at $1,000 a year. Rev. Theodore White, Dr. Dunning's brother-in-law, also occasionally preached as supply, and in 1881 Dr. Dun- ning's pastoral relations were dissolved.
Rev. Dr. Henry Clay Westwood was installed July 12, 1881, and October 23, 1883, his resignation was accepted.
Rev. Dr. W. H. Swift was installed May 7, 1884.
Besides the regular pastor, a number of clergymen have preached to the congregation as supplies or during vacations. Among them were Rev. Charles Collins, Rev. Mr. Jewett, Rev.
64
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
T. A. Mills, of Memorial church, Wilkesbarre, Rev. Walter Q. Scott, Rev. J. J. Rankin.
The first sermon ever preached in Honesdale was by Rev. Gideon N. Judd, in the Tabernacle. Mr. Judd was a graduate of Union College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and it is some satisfaction to know that the first sermon preached here was not preached by a gospel pounder, but by a scholar of de- cided ability. Prof. Tyler said that he remembered him as his ideal of a gentleman, a Christian and a minister of the Gospel. Mr. Judd went to Montrose in 1818 as stated supply when the church had sixty members, it having been organized July 3, 1810, as a Congregational church. He organized the first Sun- day school in Montrose October 14, 1818, with six scholars and two teachers, and September 12, 1823, he presided at the meeting when Montrose church adopted the Presbyterian form of government, and September 16, Isaac P. Foster was installed as an elder in the Montrose Presbyterian church along with six others. Mr. Judd went to Bloomfield, N. J., from Montrose, but he occasionally visited the scene of his labors in Pennsyl- vania, and during one of these visits he stopped with his friend Foster, and preached to the people here. Through the courtesy of Mrs. Horace Weston, a granddaughter of I. P. Foster, I am able to present a cut of Rev. Mr. Judd, also of Rev. Campbell.
Rev. Joel Campbell was born about 1796. His pastorate at Bethany, Pa., appears to have been his first pastorate. He commenced about 1827 and from January 1, 1829, to January 1, 1830, he supplied both the Bethany and Honesdale churches; thus, in a certain sense, did Bethany church become a parent church to the Honesdale church. During this time Mr. Camp- bell organized the Honesdale church as noted elsewhere. He gave up the Bethany church and became the first pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Honesdale, which relation con- tinued until the pastoral relations were dissolved by presbytery which met at Gibson in September, 1836. Mr. Campbell was the only real old time preacher that Honesdale church has ever had. His health, which appears to have never been good, failed,
65
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
which was the cause of his leaving the Honesdale pastorate. He took charge of the North Hardyston church in New Jersey in May, 1838, and preached there eighteen years at a salary of $450 a year. He was instrumental in organizing the Presby- terian church of Lafayette. He had a parsonage house with fourteen acres of land, to this he added twenty acres more by purchase, upon which he erected a dwelling. Edward Snyder writes of him, "that he usually preached three times on the Sabbath, but that he had not the physical ability to hold four or five meetings through the week, as some of his predecessors had done." "He won the affection of the children and was considered peculiarly happy in his addresses on funeral occa- sions." Two revivals of religion blessed his efforts, one in 1842 and one in 1850. He purchased a house in Lafayette village, removed there ministering to the Lafayette church until he died May 15, 1872, in the 76th year of his age. He was buried in North Church cemetery, in a lot donated for that pur- pose by the trustees. His wife, son, daughter and son-in-law are buried in the same plot. His daughter Amanda became the wife of David H. Kimble. This is copied from a memorial written by Rev. Alanson A. Haines, a convert in the revival of 1842. There are three children of Amanda still living, a son and daughter in Orange, N. J., and a daughter in Connecticut. The Newton Presbytery adopted the following minute: "Rev. Joel Campbell died on May 15, 1872, in the 76th year of his age, and the 45th year of his ministry. Mr. Campbell was an eminently Godly man, and useful minister, whose heart and hand were in the work of the ministry to the very close of his life. For thirty years he was widely known, and successive generations had grown up to enjoy his ministry, and to learn to love and revere him. His labors had been abundant and were greatly blessed, though for some years he had retired from a stated charge, he was honored to appear in his minis- terial work and office at the very close of his days. He took part in the ordination and installation of a pastor and an elder two weeks before his death. Well may we say: help Lord for the
66
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the chil- dren of men.'" Such was the first pastor of the Honesdale Presbyterian church. A man of whom the church need not be ashamed. Probably no work that he ever did had such far- reaching consequences as the organization of this church in that humble boarding house .*
Rev. Watters Warren was born at Ludlow, Vt., October 8, 1801. He graduated at Union College in 1828 and was or- dained at Guilford, Conn., March 22, 1831. He did Evangel- istic work and supplied various churches. He died at Three Oaks, Mich., March 19, 1888, in his 87th year. The church prospered during the supply of Watters Warren.
Of Rev. J. B. Graves but little is known here. Rev. Dr. E. R. Fairchild in his funeral discourse of Dr. Rowland, says he was deposed from the gospel ministry. His wife is remem- bered kindly and let us hope for the best of one of whom we know so little. A number of persons were added to the church during his pastorate.
Rev. Henry Augustus Rowland, D. D., was born of pure New England stock and pious ancestry, at Windsor, Conn., September 19, 1804. He was the eldest son of Rev. Henry A. Rowland, pastor of the First Congregational church of that town, and grandson of Rev. David S. Rowland who had pre- ceded his father as minister in that same church; and on his mother's side he was connected with the celebrated Jonathan Edwards and also he was descended from Rev. John Warham one of the principal pillars of the churches of Connecticut, so that Dr. Rowland was to the ministry born. In 1819, at the age of 15, he entered Yale College graduating in 1823. It was during his freshman year that he was converted. After teach- ing for a time at Glastenbury, Conn., he entered Andover Theo- logical Seminary under the instruction of Woods, Stuart and Robinson. He remained three years and in 1827 was licensed
*Note. The assistance of Rev. E. Clark Cline, clerk of Newton Pres- bytery, is acknowledged in securing these facts about Mr. Campbell.
67
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
to preach by the Hampden Association of Congregationalist clergymen of Hampden, Mass. He worked for the American Bible Society two years, traveling about the country quite ex- tensively. His first pastorate was in the Presbyterian church at Fayetteville, S. C. In 1831 a fire occurred an account of which was given to the north by Dr. Rowland as follows: "Sir-Fayetteville is no more; this morning the sun rose upon it in its beauty, and with gladdened hearts we flocked to the church of our God-now we are in ruins! * * The tall steeple of the Presbyterian church seemed a pyramid of fire; for a while it stood firm-soon the bell descended with a crash-the steeple trembled, tottered and fell." Before a week expired he was authorized and requested to solicit funds to re- build the church, which he did, and securing about $9,000 the church was restored. He left Fayetteville in 1834 and became pastor of the Pearl street church in New York City. This church was burned May 2, 1837. On April 14, 1839, a neat and commodious structure of brick was dedicated, but the lo- cality was unattractive and it was almost under the shadow of Broadway Tabernacle, whose pastor, Dr. Joel Parker, became President of Union Theological Seminary. Mr. Rowland was one of the original and earnest promoters of this seminary. May 7, 1843, he became pastor of Honesdale Presbyterian church and here for over twelve years he labored and wrote. In 1854 Union College conferred the degree of Doctor of Di- vinity on him. His labors in Honesdale have been noticed elsewhere. In a Memorial of his life the author writes of Dr. Rowland: although the ruling motive, purpose and desire of his life were changed by religion, his natural constitution was unaffected; his buoyant, unchecked spirits springing up as from a living fountain of health and enjoyment; his sportive humor, his warm affections remained. He continued to give free play to all those natural impulses, which he considered as in them- selves innocent. There was never at any time in his life a single particle of austerity in his composition, and he did not believe that it was any part of religion. He never could see
68
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
why any person should be less a man or a citizen because he was a Christian. Through life he was without disguise the enemy of form and pretense, or what appeared to him to be such. Simple and natural, fearless and self-reliant, conscious of his own honesty and sincerity, he spoke freely as he felt. The rising joke the ludicrous combination of images which amused him, the strong or hyperbolical expression by which he might give emphasis to his opinions, in his familiar conver- sation and lighter writings which were generally the inspiration of the moment, he did not try to suppress. Those who only saw the foam which sparkled on the surface sometimes misap- prehended him." Dr. Rowland impressed himself upon the people of Honesdale as a genial, all round, whole-souled man. He whipped our streams for trout and was generally on hand when anything that interested the public was being done. He could be sarcastic too, he preached the sermon when the Salem Presbyterian church was dedicated in 1854 and his reference to the ominous groans and shouting amens of the Methodists, and a man in vestments with his little black book preaching a sermon about fifteen minutes long, as he paid his compliments to the Episcopals, were long remembered in the town. He certainly was bubbling over with wit and humor and it would come out occasionally. He left home when he left Honesdale, a fact which he afterwards realized. Dr. Rowland's family were very acceptable to Honesdale people. They were useful members of the church and of society. His son Henry A. was born in Honesdale November 27, 1848. He graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and studied in Europe. He received the degree of LL. D. and occupied the chair of Pro- fessor of Physics in John Hopkins University, where he be- came famous as an experimental scientist and an authority in electrical experiments. He was elected President of the Ameri- can Physical Society in 1889. He also attended the Electrical Congress in Paris where he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He died April 14, 1901. Anna and Mary are liv- ing and Frances, Jennie and Cornelia are dead. Rev. Dr.
69
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
Rowland died in Boston Sept 4, 1859. There are many people still living in Honesdale that remember Dr. Rowland kindly. As a man among men he won the community regardless of church affiliations.
Rev. Dr. Skinner-Rev. James G. K. McClure* presented the following minutes for the committee as appointed by Pres- bytery: It is with grateful appreciation of the Christian char- acter of Thomas Harvey Skinner, D. D., LL. D., that the Pres- bytery of Chicago makes record of his death, which occurred January 4, 1892. Born of saintly parentage in Philadelphia, Pa., October 6, 1820, he early entered upon the life of Chris- tian decipleship and was but twenty-three years of age when he was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Presbytery of New York. His pastorates were successively in the Second Presbyterian church of Paterson, N. J., the West Presbyterian church of New York City, the Presbyterian church of Hones- dale, Pa., the Reformed (Dutch) church of Stapleton, L. I., the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne, Ind., and in the Second Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, O. In all these fields of opportunity he gave proof of broad scholarship, of earnest industry and of loving devotion to souls. His pastor- ates were marked by the faithful preaching of the whole truth as God revealed it to him, and by the faithful watchfulness over the lives entrusted to his care. He knew the rich joy of see- ing multitudes accept the offers of grace and take their place in the privileges and duties of the church of God. Leaving the pastorate to accept the position of Didactic and Polemic The- ology in the McCormick Seminary, he became a member of the Presbytery of Chicago, in 1881. With great zeal he gave his matured intellect and his vigorous physique to the work of the Professor's chair. The studies of his previous life had pre- pared him for this work. Few men in this generation under- stood the inmost thought of the theological minds that made the Westminister Assembly period so memorable, as he did.
*From minutes of Presbytery.
70
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
With convictions that were clear, intelligent and positive he taught the doctrines of his belief, as vital to all time thinking and as essential to the rightful glory of Christ's kingdom. During his connection with the Seminary, and largely through his influence in its affairs, he saw it advance from comparative feebleness into commanding power. That advance was his joy and his comfort as it is the satisfaction of us all. His life among us as a Presbyter was marked by an artless simplicity that won every heart. His reverence for God and for God's written word stamped his personality with a marked impress. His cheerful greetings and his cordial tone gave the youngest of us a sense of recognized brotherhood. He was a man who trusted in God with all his mind as well as all his heart. His acquiescence in God's orderings, whatever their nature, was joy- ous and complete. He walked among us as one who possessed the friendship of the Almighty. Because the interests of his Redeemer's work on earth were so dear to him he watched all the doings of our Presbytery with careful attention. While not often present at our meetings, he realized their importance and he constantly desired their success. We thank God for having given to us so long and so intimate a fellowship with Dr. Skin- ner's sweet, strong and useful life, and we bid our hearts make speed along that pathway in which he ascended to God." Dr. Skinner found his true mission when he began to teach the- ology, and he was a success at McCormick to which institution he gave $10,000. The number of students increased from thirteen to one hundred and ninty-eight during the ten years that he had charge of the Seminary. His kindness is shown by the fact that he remembered Mrs. Jury, a domestic servant in his service while here, with a twenty dollar present every Christmas as long as she lived. A lady who went calling with Mrs. Skinner said she had an appropriate word for every one rich or poor. She was like an angel of mercy wherever she went. From all the evidence it appears that Dr. Skinner and his wife were excellent people, that he made some tactical blunders while here is also evident and possibly the session
71
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
misapprehended him also. Our opinion of him from all the evidence is that he was an earnest Christian man, strangely misapprehended while here in Honesdale, and it is evident that Dr. Skinner misapprehended his session also, for it contained excellent men.
Rev. Charles Seely Dunning, D. D., eldest son of Henry Dunning, was born in Wallkill, Orange county, N. Y., January 31, 1828. In 1846 he joined the Junior class in Williams Col- lege and was graduated in 1848. He then entered Union Theo- logical Seminary, New York, from which he graduated in 1852. His Theological training was obtained in that institution, and after serving the First Presbyterian church in Binghamton, N. Y., as stated supply for one year, (1852-3) he returned to the Union Theological Seminary in New York to occupy the posi- tion of Professor of Hebrew. This office he filled with great acceptance during four years (1853-7). It is said that Dr. Edward Robinson pronounced him to be the finest critical Hebrew scholar ever graduated at Union Seminary. In April, 1858, he took charge of the First Presbyterian church of Frank- lin, and was ordained and installed pastor November 8. In April, 1861, he was called to the pastorage of the First Pres- byterian church of Honesdale. His relation to that church continued for nineteen years. In April, 1880, in consequence of the failure of his health, he resigned the pastorate and re- moved to Kingston, Pa., where he remained for four years, sup- plying as his strength permitted, the First Presbyterian church of that place. But even this was too great a tax upon his failing strength. In 1885 he relinquished this work and in March of that year moved to Metuchen, N. J., where he purchased a home in which he thought to wait, serenely, till the final call of the Master. He had not long to wait. He died on the first day of the following June. His body was brought to Hones- dale where the best years of his life were spent and laid beside the children of his household who had gone before. On the afternoon of the funeral all the business places of the town were closed and the mourning was general and sincere. All denomi-
REV. W. H. SWIFT, D. D.
73
MINISTERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS.
towns of northern Virginia. He was located in the latter re- gion before the war, and his pronounced views on abolition, and the fearless way in which he preached them, gave his family and friends anxiety as to his personal safety. During the War of the Rebellion he was a member of the Christian Commission in the Union Armies. At the close of the war he occupied pul- pits in some of the leading Methodist Episcopal churches in various conferences throughout the country, notably in Omaha, Neb., Wheeling, W. Va., and Princeton, N. J. Princeton Col- lege conferred upon him during his residence in that city the degree of D. D., and he was the first Methodist minister to receive that degree from that institution. In the year 1874 he left the Methodist ministry and accepted a call to the Presby- terian church in Lancaster, Pa. Soon after the death of Dr. Chambers, of Philadelphia, who occupied the pulpit of the leading Presbyterian church of that city for upwards of twenty- five years, he accepted a call to become the successor of that divine and was pastor of that church for two years. In the Presbyterian church he was stationed at Rock Island, Ill., Den- ver, Colo., Honesdale, Pa., and Auburn, Me., after which he was admitted to the New England Southern Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and occupied the pulpit of the Chestnut Street Methodist Episcopal church, the mother church of Methodism in that region. In 1888 he was transferred to the Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was stationed at Fredonia, Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he died after a service of two and one-half years in that village. His widow and the five children who survived him, remained per- manently in Fredonia. He died on the 3d day of September, 1890, at the age of 60 years. He occupied the pulpit of the Honesdale Presbyterian church in the years 1881, 1882 and 1883. In his early ministry he was married to Emily Childs, of Maryland, who died in the year 1870, leaving no children. On November 5, 1874, he married Augusta L. Johnson, daugh- ter of Rev. Herman Merrill Johnson, D. D., LL. D., for eight years professor in, and for ten years president of Dickinson
74
HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
College at Carlisle, Pa., which office he he'd at the time of his death in the year 1868. Dr. Westwood had five children, the result of this marriage: Herman J., Emily A. Westwood Lewis, Elizabeth H., Lewis C., and Mary P. The son, Lewis C., was born during his pastorate in Honesdale. His widow died on Christmas day in the year 1900.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.