USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Brandywine > History of the Presbyterian Church in the Forks of Brandywine, Chester County, Pa. (Brandywine Manor Presbyterian Church), from A.D. 1735 to A.D. 1885 : with biographical sketches of the deceased pastors of the church and of those who prepared for the Christian ministry under the direction of the Rev. Nathan Grier > Part 3
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* It received the name of the Manor Meeting-House because it was placed within the limits of Springtown (Springton) Manor. This Manor was laid out in 1729, but its boundaries were not finally determined until near a score of years afterwards. It included nearly the whole of the present Township of Wallace, and portions of West Brandywine, West Nantmeal, and Honeybrook. The first set- tlers in this Manor were, with two or three exceptions, Scotch and Scotch-Irish. The misnomer, Brandywine Manor, given to the first post-office established near the Church edifice, gradually led to its being applied to the Church itself, by which name, except in ecclesias- tical records, it is now generally known.
+ Samuel Cunningham, whose remains were interred in the " lower graveyard," was a Member of the Assembly from Chester County in 1776-77 ; a Delegate to the Convention which formed the First Constitution of Pennsylvania; a Collector of the Excise, and many 4
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was used in the construction, nor any lumber which was not obtained from the neighboring forests, except the outer covering of the roof.
This Meeting-House was sixty-five feet by forty- five, two stories high, and at the time of its erection was the largest stone edifice in the northwestern part of Chester County.
The Pulpit was placed in the South side of the building. There was an entrance at the East end, and another at the West, connected by an aisle which equally divided the lower part of the building or audience-room. Another aisle led from this to an entrance on the North side opposite the Pulpit. All the pews were arranged from North to South. Those, therefore, who occupied the pews North of the main aisle sat with a side to the Pulpit. There were no flies nor any arrangement made in the construction of the building for supplying heat.
This Meeting-House was never completed accord- ing to the original plan; the gallery and some other parts being omitted on account of a want of funds.
In order to afford some degree of warmth vessels made of sheet-iron and shaped like a mill-hopper were placed in the aisles and filled with live coals. Some of the coals falling on the floor caused the destruction of the building in February, 1786. The sexton, it was said, saw the light when the fire might have been extinguished, but being a believer in ap- .
years a Justice of the Peace. His death occurred June 22, 1806, aged seventy-four. A great-grandson of Esqr. Cunningham, Matthew Brown, died while preparing to enter the ministry.
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paritions, he did not venture near until others attracted by the light arrived, when nothing could be done to arrest the progress of the flames.
The members of the congregation, deeply grieved by the recent death of their beloved pastor, Mr. Car- michael, were now subjected to the additional affliction of seeing all that was combustible in their Meeting- House redneed to ashes.' They were dismayed but not disheartened. In the beginning of the next month, March, 1786, they addressed a well-written and earnest appeal* to their Christian brethren for assist- ance, and appointed agents to solicit aid.
Among the most diligent of those engaged in collecting funds was Elder William Hunter. He called for that purpose not only at every house within a distance of several miles, but even accosted persons on the highway, earnestly requesting and thankfully receiving even the smallest amount. He also visited Chester, the Turk's Head, now West Chester, and Philadelphia, then the seat of the general government, where he obtained assistance from the following well- known citizens :
Dr. Rush and Dr. Franklin, Signers of the Declara- tion of Independence.
David Rittenhouse, the celebrated mathematician, and the first Director of the Mint of the United States.
Edward Shippen, the first Mayor of Philadelphia, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this State.
William Shippen, a Professor in the University of
* See Appendix A.
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Pennsylvania, and the first who delivered a course of Medical Lectures in America.
William Bradford, Attorney-General of the United States.
Colonel Andrew Porter, an officer in the army of the Revolution, and Surveyor-General of Penn- sylvania.
Tench Coxe, an able writer on Political Economy.
General John Potter, a distinguished officer in the Continental army.
John Nicholson, the well-known land agent.
Jonathan D. Sargent, at that time the leading member of the Philadelphia Bar.
Mark Wilcox, an influential merchant.
Joseph and Colonel William Dean, sons of the Rev. William Dean, and many others less known, but not less benevolent.
These names are given to show that at a period when the country was impoverished by war, when it had only a depreciated and depreciating currency, and was without a stable form of government, men of all classes contributed to the fund for the restora- tion of the venerable building which withstood the storms of more than a century and around which so many hallowed associations clustered.
But to return to the history of the reconstruction of the Church edifice. When sufficient funds had been collected, as the members of the congregation supposed, to restore their Meeting-House, the work was com- menced. The walls, with the exception of the gables, having been found on examination to be so far unin- jured as not to require them to be taken down, the
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reconstruction was confined mainly to roofing the building and restoring the interior. In doing this several alterations and some additions were made. A gallery was placed along each end and the side opposite the Pulpit. The pews North of the Main Aisle, which formerly ran from North to South, were arranged in a direction East and West, or at right angles to those South of that avenue. Flues were built in the gables, and ten-plate stoves, the gift of Colonel Grubb, of Lancaster County, were placed in the aisles. The Pulpit was remodelled, made to occupy less space, and furnished with a " sounding- board," or projection from the wall over the head of the speaker. At the base of the Pulpit and not un- like it, though smaller, a stand was arranged for the use of the precentors, or those who led the choir. To prevent accidents by fire in the same manner as had occurred, the aisles were laid with mortar or cement instead of boards.
The reconstruction was done under the direction of Samuel Cunningham, Esq., who, as before stated, had the oversight of the building when it was first erected .* Although the work was commenced in the summer of 1786, it progressed slowly, and the building was not entirely completed when the Rev. Nathan Grier was installed as pastor, in August, 1787. The cost, as appears by the Treasurer's account, was a little more than a Thousand Pounds Pennsylvania currency, or about twenty-seven hundred dollars.
* He superintended the erection of the second Meeting-House at Fagg's Manor, and probably of the third Meeting-House at Octoraro, built in 1769.
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This meeting-house remained without any change in the interior and with trifling repairs, except a new roof (in 1827), until 1839. In that year it was re- modelled and made to conform in a considerable degree to the plan adopted in the arrangement of Church edifices at the present time. As the alterations then made remained until the building was taken down, in 1875, it is unnecessary to state them ex- cept as matters of record. Suffice it to say that the door at the North side, and also the one at the East end, were walled up. Instead of these a door was made on the South side about twelve feet from the East corner. An aisle led from this door in front of the Pulpit, which was placed in a recess at the East end of the building. A gallery was constructed along both sides and the end opposite the Pulpit. This gallery was reached by a flight of stairs on each side of the vestibule, which adjoined the main entrance at the West end. Aisles with a row of pews on each side led from the vestibule to the aisle in front of the Pulpit.
Such are the main facts connected with a building whose walls stood one hundred and fourteen years, and whose size and situation remained unchanged during that long period. When it was erected there was no other house for public worship within ten miles in any direction except the Seceder Meeting- House, no longer in existence, and the Friends' Meet- ing-House "up on the hill from the valley," Old Caln, built in 1756. Now, in addition to four other Church edifices belonging to Presbyterians, there are in the same bounds twenty buildings for Divine wor- ship, occupied by five different denominations.
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It may be stated as a fitting close to the history of the Manor Meeting-House, that from the dedication of the building in 1761 until it was taken down in 1875,* the congregations worshipping in it were not more than three years without a stated ministry. Also that during one hundred and five years of that interval its pulpit was occupied by three pastors only, -the Rev. John Carmichael, the Rev. Nathan Grier, and the Rev. J. N. C. Grier, D.D. An example of Christian harmony and of attachment between pastors and people which has few parallels even in the annals of the Presbyterian Church.+
FOURTH MEETING-HOUSE.
The Manor Meeting-House having become in a measure unsafe, and in need of extensive repairs, the question arose, whether it would be better to place that building in a proper condition for public worship or to erect another. On the one hand, it was evident that repairing it would only be a postponement for some years of the erection of a church edifice, and that, if refitted in the best manner possible, it would still be wanting in a lecture-room and other conven- iences, now deemed necessary in houses set apart for the services of the sanctuary. On the other hand, the expense of erecting a building at a period of pecun- iary embarrassment, and the desire of many to preserve
* The last sermon was preached in the building June 13, 1875, by the pastor, Mr. M'Coll, from Jeremiah vi. 13.
ยก Local Memoranda ; Records of Session; Minutes of Presbytery of Newcastle.
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the meeting-house in which they and their fathers had worshipped, were subjects for earnest and thought- ful consideration.
Several meetings were held, at which the matter was discussed and carefully examined in all its bearings, but without arriving at a definite conclusion. At last a committee was appointed to report on the condition of the meeting-house, and to state whether it would be best to repair or to build.
On the 24th of March, 1874, the committee re- ported that after hearing the opinion of competent men, Messrs. Sloan and Bunn, of Honey Brook, who had examined the meeting-house, it had been unan- imously resolved to recommend the erection of a new church edifice. The report was accepted, and a reso- lution adopted to proceed as soon as possible in con- structing a building. The pastor, Mr. McColl, was appointed to solicit funds for that purpose, and re- quested to report when, according to his judgment, an amount sufficient to warrant a commencement of the work had been secured.
Having entered on the performance of the task assigned him with ancestral Scotch zeal and persever- ance, Mr. McColl was able to state at a meeting of the congregation, held the next September (15th), that in addition to many offers of labor gratuitously, up- wards of ten thousand dollars had been subscribed. It was therefore determined to commence the work early the next spring. At the same meeting Messrs. John Ralston, William Templeton, and Baxter B. McClure were chosen a committee to procure plans and have the general oversight in the construction of
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the building. Mr. McColl was also appointed treas- urer of the funds collected for the " new erection."
The members of the committee, in compliance with their instructions, examined several church edifices, and engaged Mr. Samuel Sloan, an architect of Phila- delphia, to furnish plans. They likewise invited proposals from builders, and, after careful deliberation, awarded the contract for the greater portion of the work to Mr. William Poole, of Philadelphia.
The masons began work on the foundation the 28th of June, 1875, and the corner-stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies* on the 7th of August in the same year. Owing, however, to unfavorable weather, the limited means of the contractor, and other canses, the work progressed slowly, and in the beginning of July, 1876, after all the stone had been laid, Mr. Poole abandoned the contract. The members of the committee were therefore obliged to take upon them- selves the completing of the building. They em- ployed Ulysses K. Beam, who superintended the carpenter work, Samuel B. Buchannan the plaster- ing, and S. B. Williams the painting.
The building, with the exception of a part of the tower and the spire, having been at last finished, the 14th of December, 1876, was appointed for the dedica- tion of it to the service of Almighty God.
On that occasion Dr. JJ. N. C. Grier made the opening prayer, Dr. Matthew B. Grier read a portion of Scripture, Dr. N. G. Parke, of Pittston, Pa., led in prayer, and Dr. Dickey, pastor of the Calvary
* See Appendix B.
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Church, Philadelphia, preached the sermon from II. Cor. iii. 18. Remarks were also made by Rev. J. C. Thompson, then of Hagerstown, Md., Rev. J. A. Liggett, of Rahway, N. J., Rev. Thomas S. Long, of Bloomsbury, in the same State, and Rev. David W. Moore, at that time a resident of Mc Veytown, Pa.
As a considerable amount was still needed to pay the indebtedness, after the close of the religious ex- ercises an effort was made to procure funds sufficient for that purpose. When about three thousand six hundred dollars had been subscribed, it was concluded to postpone the dedication until the next Sabbath, in order that the building might, if possible, be con- secrated to the service of the Most High free from encumbranco.
On Sabbath, December 17, after a sermon by the Rev. J. C. Thompson, and addresses by the Rev. David W. Moore and the pastor, the amount needed to pay all arrearages was pledged. The dedicatory prayer was then offered by the Rev. Mr. Moore, and the congregation, after singing the 137th Psalm, was dismissed, rejoicing.
The buikling thus happily completed and freed from debt stands a short distance south of the site occupied by the Manor Meeting-House, with the front towards the North and parallel to the public road. It is seventy-three feet by fifty-four feet, with a recess for the pulpit, and contains a lecture- and Sabbath-school-rooms below, and an audience-room, with a gallery at one end, above. The audience-room is sixty-eight feet by forty-nine including gallery, with a height of thirty-seven feet to the apex in the
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centre. This room is neatly and appropriately fur- nished, and the pews, which afford seats for about four hundred and fifty, are convenient and well arranged.
A striking feature, and one which adds beauty and interest to the building, is the memorial windows. Of these, there are no less than nine commemorative of the Rev'ds John Carmichael, Nathan Grier, and J. N. C. Grier, D.D., Elder James Ralston, Elder James K. Grier, Joseph Mackelduff, Benjamin and Agnes MeClure, the Manor Sunday-School and the Sunday-School at Rockville.
The entire structure presents an imposing appear- ance, and, owing to the elevated situation, is visible at a distance of several miles in almost every direction.
The cost of the building and improvement of the enclosure may be placed at twenty-one thousand dollars. Of this, about one thousand dollars was con- tributed in labor. The ladies of the congregation raised nearly fourteen hundred dollars by festivals, a fair, and a supper. The memorial windows were presented by the members of the Sunday-Schools and by the friends or relatives of the godly persons whose names they are intended to perpetuate.
Although great credit should be given to the members of the Building Committee for the careful manner in which they performed the duty assigned them, and also to those who so liberally contributed funds for the erection of the building, yet much is due to the popularity, zeal, and perseverance of the pastor, Mr. McColl. Like his predecessor, Mr. Car- michael, he has been instrumental in obtaining the construction of a large and substantial building for
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public worship, which will remain long after he has been removed to a " house not made with hands."
Such is a brief history of the Fourth Meeting- House. What the record will be when it shall have heen so much impaired by the destroying hand of time as to require another in its stead, is known only to Him "who sees the end from the beginning." But trusting that He will watch over and bless the Church established in this place, in the future as He has done in the past, may it not be hoped that those who assemble the last time within this consecrated build- ing will be able truthfully to say, 'Here the Gospel has been preached with faithfulness and power. Here many have been brought to a knowledge of the Saviour. From these hallowed precincts an influence has been diffused whose beneficial results will never be fully known until the " Book of Remembrance" shall be opened, and all the descendants of Adam shall stand before their Final Judge.'*
SECEDER MEETING-HOUSE.
Messrs. Gellatly, and Arnott, the first missionaries sent by the Seceder Church to America, arrived in 1753. Being energetic, faithful, and well received, especially by those of the early settlers who had been connected with that denomination in the fatherland, and favored by the schism in the Presbyterian Church, they, Henderson, Mason, Annan, Smart, and others,
* Minutes of Building Committee; Records of Session; Com. from the Pastor, Mr. McColl ; Local Memoranda.
+ Gellatly died in April (12th), 1761.
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gathered congregations and erected buildings for public worship. One of these was placed on the southern slope of the Barren Hill, where the Wagon- town Road intersects the road leading to Coatesville, and a few hundred yards from two Presbyterian Meeting-Houses. This building, erected in 1756 or '57, was poorly constructed, and had become so much out of repair in 1780 that a board tent was placed in front of it and used in its stead. Religious ex- ercises were conducted in the tent by men of learning and ability until about the beginning of the present century, when the older members being dead and others having connected themselves with the Manor Presbyterian Church, those who remained were too few to support a stated ministry, and finally ceased to be a distinet organization. As a consequence the buildings were neglected and soon decayed. Owing to its being used as a school-house, and receiving some repairs, the Session-house, which was built of very small logs, remained a few years after the other struc- tures were in ruins. No traces either of it or of the Church edifice and tent are visible.
The graveyard, which occupies about one-eighth of an acre, is kept in repair by some of the descendants of those who obtained the site, and is still used as a burial-ground. It contains a number of graves, many of them unmarked. The first memorial stone placed in it bears the date of 1768, the last of 1880.
John Gilleland, who owned the adjoining farm, probably gave the land occupied by the buildings and graveyard. His only son, who was murdered by some Hessian marauders shortly after the battle of
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HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Brandywine, was laid to rest in this enclosure, but no lettered stone preserves the name of the victim of hireling barbarity. A grandson of Mr. Gilleland, the Rev. James Buchanan, was long a faithful min- ister of the Presbyterian Church. Nathaniel Erwin, a soldier of the Continental army and a son of one of the first settlers, and several of his descendants, are buried in this graveyard.
While the futility of attempting to support three churches, differing in non-essentials only, within a short distance of one another, is shown by their becoming merged in one, it nevertheless makes mani- fest the determination of our fathers to sustain a preached Gospel, and their adherence to the doc- trines and modes of worship which they had learned and practised before their settlement in the wilds of America .*:
* McKerrow, " Hist. of Secession Church ;" Buek, "Theological Dictionary ;" " Reminiscences of James Dorlan ;" Local Memoranda.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF THE
DECEASED PASTORS OF BRANDYWINE MANOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
" And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." -- JER. iii. 15.
REV. SAMUEL BLACK.
Born 1700.
Died 1770.
As has been already stated, the pulpits of the Presbyterian Church, during the first half-century of its existence in America, were mainly supplied by natives of Scotland and the North of Ireland. Some of them came in answer to the Macedonian cry, " come over and help us," others actuated by the spirit which guided Martyn, Heber, Birney, and their fellow-laborers to the inhospitable regions of Asia and Africa. They were mostly young men, who left home and its comforts to share the privations and promote the spiritual interests of their countrymen whom penury or oppression had driven to the Western Wilderness.
Among those who were led to devote themselves to ministerial labor on this side of the Atlantic was
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5
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Samuel Black, who was born in the Highlands of Scotland, and educated at Edinburgh.
Mr. Black came to America in 1734 or '35, with credentials, it is said, from the Synod of Glasgow, and was received, as a probationer, by the Presbytery of New Castle.
The Presbytery of Donegal, which was formed October 11, 1732, consisted at first of but four mem- bers .* This necessarily left a number of churches within its bounds without any stated ministry. In order to afford these destitute congregations an oppor- tunity of hearing the preached word, the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1735-36, sent several of its proba- tioners and others to supply the vacant pulpits. The Presbytery of Donegal resented this, and required all who occupied pulpits within its jurisdiction to be members of that body or, if probationers, that they should be examined and licensed by the Presbytery. Accordingly, when the congregation in this place applied for Mr. Black to preach for them as a can- didate for " settlement," he obtained his dismissal from the Presbytery of New Castle, and placed himself under the care of the Presbytery of Donegal.
He was taken on "trials" May 23, 1736, preached before Presbytery on Romans viii. 31, lectured on the CXIX. Psalm, and read an Exegesis in Latin on De supremo judice contraversiam religionis.
At the next meeting of the Presbytery, October 27, 1736, after further examination and the delivery
* They were Anderson, of Donegal; Bertram, of Derry ; Orr, of Lower Octoraro (Nottingham) ; and Boyd, of Upper Octoraro.
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of discourses on Romans v. 1, and also on Romans viii. S, he was licensed to preach the Gospel.
Mr. Black having accepted a second call from the Congregation in this place to become their pastor, the Presbytery, at the same meeting, appointed the second Wednesday in the November following for his ordina- tion and installation.
According to this appointment, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the Forks of Brandywine on the 10th of November, 1736. James Anderson, of Donegal, presided and preached from 1 Thess. v. 12 and 13. The only other ministers present were Alexander Craighead, of Middle Octoraro, and Ghelston, late the pastor of New London, who had recently joined the Presbytery of Donegal, and was then supplying Pequea and other places.
Mr. Black had been settled but a short time in the pastorate when the controversy which agitated and finally divided the Presbyterian Church caused dis- sensions among his people. Firmly attached to the doctrines and practices of the Old Side, he, perhaps, was not as reserved in expressing his opinions of the "Revivalists" as prudence dictated, nor as guarded in conduct as his position and the watchfulness of those who differed from him in their religious views de- manded. These mistakes, however, would scarcely have led a majority of the members of his church to bring forward and earnestly press rancorous charges against him if the flames of discord had not been fanned by some of his ministerial brethren.
Foremost among these was David Anderson, who,
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