USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Faggs Manor > History of the Presbyterian Church of Fagg's Manor, Chester Co., Pa. 1730-1876 : a discourse delivered July 2, 1876 > Part 2
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Samuel Blair continued in the pastorate of this church until his death. Abundant in labors, he exerted his activity not only at home but abroad. He preached wherever there was an opportunity to do good. He made missionary journeys through Maryland and Virginia, preaching as he went. Profoundly interested in the cause of education, he took an active part in the founding of the College of New Jersey, frequently riding on horseback from here to Prince- ton, a distance of about one hundred miles, to attend the meetings of its trustees. Such incessant toil no physical
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frame could long endure. The light which shines so brightly, rapidly consumes its oil. Sickness laid him low, and after an affectionate parting address to his congregation, sent through the elders and a few others whom he called to his bedside, he died on the 5th of June, 1751, at the early age of 39 years. His grave is with us. In our cemetery, near the spot where he stood to proclaim the everlasting gospel, he sleeps awaiting the resurrection. His epitaph is as follows:
" In yonder sacred house I spent my breath, Now silent mouldering here I lie in death, These silent lips shall wake and yet declare A dread Amen to truths they uttered there."
Rev. Samuel Finley, of Nottingham, preached his funeral sermon, and Rev. Samuel Davies composed elegiac verses to his memory. Both praise in glowing terms his genius, his piety and his self-sacrificing labors.
Several anecdotes have come down to us illustrative of Mr. Blair's pulpit power, and the estimation in which he was held. When Rev. Samuel Davies returned from his visit to Europe his friends wished to know his opinion of the cele- brated preachers he had heard in England and Scotland. After speaking in terms of high commendation of such as he admired most, he concluded by saying that among all those great men, he heard none that could surpass his former teacher, the Rev. Samuel Blair.
Dr. Archibald Alexander narrates the following: "We remember many years ago to have conversed with an aged man, who was brought up in Pennsylvania, and had been awakened under Mr. Blair's ministry. He informed us that when a wild young man he had been induced by the fame of Mr. Blair to ride far to hear him preach; but passing the house where the minister lodged he saw him walking in the yard with his arms folded; "and," said he, "the very sight of him threw me into a tremor from which I did not recover until I saw him in the pulpit, and heard him with awful
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emphasis give out the text, 'Except a man be born again,' etc. From that moment I fell under the deep conviction that I was a lost and ruined sinner, and this impression never left me entirely until I hope I was born again."
Dr. Alexander relates another also. "In 1795," he says, "we conversed with an aged man above eighty who had been an elder in the church of Fagg's Manor in the time of Samuel Blair, of whom he could not speak without tears; but he seemed to think the world was entirely changed, for he said, 'I hear no man preach now as did Samuel Blair.'"
Mr. Blair left a family of ten children, eight of whom grew up. Four of his daughters married ministers, Rev. John Carmichael, pastor of the church of Forks of Brandy- wine; Rev. Wm. Foster, pastor of Upper Octorara church ; Rev. George Duffield, of Philadelphia, Chaplain with Bishop White of the Continental Congress, and Rev. David Rice, of Virginia, who afterwards removed to Kentucky. Another daughter married Mr. James Moore, a farmer; another, Mr. Sanderson, a merchant; and still another, Dr. Samuel Edmiston, a physician, of Fagg's Manor. The last men- tioned was the mother of Mrs. Margaret D. Turner, a venerable member of this church, now in her 91st year. Mrs. Turner is thus a grand-daughter of Rev. Samuel Blair. There was also a son, Samuel by name, who entered the ministry and gave promise of great usefulness. He was called to the Old South church of Boston, but feeble health soon terminated his labors there, and he retired from the active work of the ministry.
After the death of Rev. Samuel Blair, the pulpit was vacant for six years. Ministers were still scarce. In May, 1755, a call was extended to Rev. Benjamin Hoit, (or Hait) a graduate of Princeton College, and licentiate of the Pres- bytery of New Brunswick. Mr. Hoit, however, accepted a call to Amwell and the Forks of Delaware. Rev. Benjamin Chestnut supplied this church, in connection with several other churches, for a short time. In the spring of 1757, a
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revival of religion was enjoyed here under the able and forcible preaching of Rev. George Duffield, who was tem- porarily supplying the pulpit. Mr. Duffield was a son-in-law of Rev. Samuel Blair.
Rev. JOHN BLAIR.
SECOND PASTOR.
In the same year the church succeeded in securing a pastor, Rev. John Blair, a younger brother of the first pastor. He was born in Ireland in 1720, was educated at the Log College, and was licensed by the New Side Presbytery of Newcastle. He seems to have been full of the missionary spirit and zealous for the wide extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. His first settlement was in the churches of Big Spring (Newville), Middle Spring and Rocky Spring in Cumberland county, Pa., then on the very frontier of civili- zation, where the war-whoop of the savage was still heard. There he was ordained and installed December 27, 1742. During his pastorate in that region he made frequent preach- ing tours, especially southward, penetrating twice to the Valley of Virginia, preaching wherever he went with great acceptance and power, and organizing churches in destitute regions. He "visited the Valley and places cast of the Ridge in 1745, and again in 1746, and during his last visit he organized the congregations of North Mountain, New Providence, Timber Ridge and Forks of James *. " In Han- over, Va., afterwards the pastoral charge of the celebrated Samuel Davies, and where Mr. Blair had been preceded only by Rev. Wm. Robinson, his preaching had wonderful effect. Mr. Morris says, "truly he came to us in the fulness of the gospel of Christ. Former impressions were ripened
*Foote. pp. 119.
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and new ones made on many hearts. One night in particular a whole houseful of people was quite overcome with the power of the word, particularly of one pungent sentence; and they would hardly sit or stand or keep their passions under proper restraint. There is reason to hope that several bound themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant never to be forgottent."
Mr. Blair labored at Big Spring for six years. But hostile bands of Indians continued to ravage the new settlement, many of his people, impoverished and discouraged, withdrew to the more densely populated regions, and he at last fol- lowed them. He resigned his charge, December 28, 1748. He seems to have remained without a charge more than eight years, but we can not suppose such a man to have been either idle or unsought. In July, 1754, we find him with Rev. Samuel Finley in New York city, supplying the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church and endeavoring to harmonize contending factions in the congregation. And the congregation talk of extending him a call. In the meetings of Synod we find him taking an active part in those measures which look toward, and finally result in the union of the Old Side and New Side. We find his name on all the committees of conference which were appointed, and he was one of the commission to draft a plan of union, upon which plan a union was effected, May 29, 1758, after a separation of seventeen years. John Blair seems from this to have been eminent as a peacemaker.
In 1757 Mr. Blair accepted a call to Fagg's Manor, and took up both in church and school the work from which his sainted brother had been removed. In both departments he was eminent and successful. He was fully as learned a man and as profound a theologian as his brother, though he does not seem to have equalled him in the fire of pulpit eloquence. Both church and school flourished, and the latter continued to send out able men to preach the gospel.
tIbid, pp. 133.
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Mr. Blair's pastorate lasted ten years. In 1767 he was elected Professor of Divinity and Moral Philosophy in the College of New Jersey. He also officiated as President of the College for two years, until the arrival of Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, when he severed his connection with the College, and accepted a call to the church of Wallkill, N. Y. There he labored until his death, which occurred December 8, 1771. "In his last sickness he imparted his advice to the congregation, and represented to his family the necessity of an interest in Christ. A few nights before he died he said, 'Directly I am going to glory-my Master calls me, I must be gone".""
During the pastorate of Mr. Blair, a deed for the church property was obtained from Miss Penn. The date of the instrument is June 15, 1759. The grantees were Job Ruston, James Coughran (Cochran), William Boyd and David Ramsay, all of Chester county, and John Taylor, of Lancaster county. We recognize in James Cochran and William Boyd two of the elders who had certified to Rev. Samuel Blair's narrative fifteen years before.
In order to secure the property forever for church pur- poses, a deed was made the next year by these five gentle- men, to a Board of Trustees, consisting of Rev. John Blair, John Smith, Moses Ross, David Simpson, David Fleming, Montgomery Kennedy, James Gilleland, John Culbertson, John Caruthers and Stephen Cochran, Sr.
The name of JOB RUSTON, which stands at the head of the first list, is one which deserves the remembrance of the church, and one of his acts is especially worthy of record and imitation. By his will he bequeathed to his executors, Thomas Love and James Boyd the sum of one hundred pounds "to be by them laid out so that the interest may be paid toward the support of a gospel ministry that shall be the pastor and preacher in the meeting-house in Fagg's Manor in Londonderry township, Chester county."
*Log College, pp. 296.
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The interest of the legacy was used as directed for many years. The principal was at last used in the erection of the present church building *.
This seems to be the proper place to mention two of our distinguished men, who were born, one during Rev. John Blair's pastorate, the other during his brother's.
JAMES Ross, LL. D., was born about a mile south-east of Russelville, and therefore within the bounds of Fagg's Manor church. He was one of the first professors of Dick- inson College, Pa., and afterwards taught the classics in Chambersburg and Philadelphia. He was eminent as a linguist. He wrote and published a "Grammar of the Latin Language," which was for many years a favorite text-book, and was extensively used, until superseded by those of more modern date. Besides the grammar, he edited several elementary Latin books. He translated the Shorter Catechism into Latin, and: taught it in his school. He also compiled a Greek grammar, no portion of which was in English. It was entirely Greek and Latin. He was very fond of composing and reciting Latin verse, and a large quantity of manuscript in that language was found among his papers after his decease. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. He was tall and well- proportioned, dignified but courteous and affable in: his demeanor, an honest, upright man, of spotless moral char- acter, and artless as a child. He died July 6, 1827, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was twice married. but left no descendants.
*The first wife of Mr. Ruston seems also to have been an exemplary person. Her virtues, as recorded on her tombstone, are, like her husband's, worthy of imitation at the present time. The quaint inscription on the broken and almost buried stone which covers her grave, reads as follows:
"HERE LIETH THE BODY OF MARY, WIFE OF JOB RUSTON, WHO DIED THE 19TH OF JUNE, 1757. AGED 39 YEARS. She bore unto him in 22 years twelve children.
"The dame that lieth underneath this tomb,
Had Rachel's face, and Leah's fruitful womb, Abigail's wisdom, Lydia's open heart,
With Martha's care, and Mary's better part. "
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Rev. NATHANIEL IRWIN, whose name stands on the list of Moderators of the General Assembly, was born at Fagg's Manor, October 17, 1756. He was educated at William and Mary College, Va., and the College of New Jersey at Princeton, at the latter of which he graduated in 1770, cotemporary with James Madison, David Rittenhouse, Judge Hugh H. Breckinridge and others who subsequently rose to eminence. He succeeded Rev. Charles Beatty as pastor of Neshaminy church in Bucks county, Pa., where he was ordained and installed May 18, 1774, and remained until his death, March 3, 1812. He was a man of varied and extensive information, possessed great scientific knowl- edge, and was passionately fond of music. He exerted a wide influence in church and state, and for several years exercised much control over the politics of Bucks county. He was instrumental in having the county seat removed to Doylestown, its present location. A caricature was circu- lated at the time, which represented Mr. Irwin in his shirt sleeves, with a rope around the court house, pulling in the direction of Doylestown with all his might. He was the first to encourage John Fitch in his steamboat invention. Fitch's autobiography is addressed to Mr. Irwin in token of his gratitude for the encouragement received from him. Mr. Irwin was accustomed to ride to church on an old mare called Dobbin, and is said to have composed his sermons as he jogged along the road. He was Moderator of the Gen - eral Assembly in '1801".
After Mr. Blair's removal occurs a long vacancy of four- teen years, characterized by many earnest but unsuccessful attempts to secure a pastor. Perhaps the young ministers of the day were too modest to step into the pulpit of the Blairs. In 1768 a call was extended to Rev. William Foster, a son-in-law of Rev. Samuel Blair, and a very talented and popular preacher. But Mr. Foster received at the same
*I am indebted for the sketches of Dr. Ross and Rev. Mr. Irwin, to J. Smith Futhey, Esq .. of West Chester, Pa., whose antiquarian knowledge and zeal well entitle him to the appellation of the "Old Mortality" of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians.
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time a call from Upper Octorara, and another from White Clay Creek and Head of Christiana, and much to the chagrin of the other churches, Octorara carried off the prize. In August of the same year a call was presented to Mr. McCreary, but was not accepted. The following October, Mr. John Woodhull was called. Mr. (afterwards Doctor) Woodhull was the grand-father of Rev. Gilbert Tennent Woodhull, now a professor in Lincoln University. He had received his collegiate education at Princeton, and had studied theology here in the school of Rev. John Blair. While engaged in his theological studies here, "he was strongly solicited by some pious young men who had been his classmates in college, from New England, to come over and study with them there, under the direction of an eminent divine of that region, alleging that they enjoyed there supe- rior light. They pressed the invitation so urgently that he resolved on this change of situation, and went home to obtain his father's approbation. This was granted, the arrangements made, and the time set for his departure from Long Island. The morning came, and he awoke, he thought, as well as usual, and sprang with alacrity out of bed; but in attempting to dress he found himself unable to stand, and was forced to lie down, when he was seized with an alarming fever which confined him there for many weeks. This dis- pensation of Providence he considered of great importance, as influencing materially the whole course of his after life. He returned to Mr. Blair, finished his preliminary studies, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Newcastle, August 10, 1768."* Very shortly after his licensure occurred an event which, no doubt, obtained him the call to Fagg's Manor, and we think, had he been as ready as before to mark the teachings of Providence, must have settled him here. He was preaching one night "very unexpectedly "+ in the house of Mr. John Love, when a great awakening . took place, and about sixty persons, most of them young,
*Funeral Sermon, pp. 24. tDo., pp. 25.
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were converted. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Woodhull de- clined the call to Fagg's Manor and settled at Leacock; Lancaster county. He afterwards removed to Freehold, N. J., and became eminent both as a preacher and teacher, training many candidates in his own house for the work of the ministry.
The next attempt of the church to secure a pastor was a call extended in October, 1774, to Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, son of Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequa, and nephew of Rev. Samuel Blair. But this attempt too was unsuccessful, and Mr. Smith went away to settle at Cumberland and Prince Edward, Va., and to become in due time the President of the College of New Jersey. In May, 1776, James Grier was called, and in 1779 Mr. Keith, both of the Philadelphia Presbytery. But these attempts too were unsuccessful.
In the year 1775, the congregation, still without a pastor, entered upon the erection of a new church. It was a sub- stantial and commodious stone structure, and stood between the sites of the present church and parsonage. Most of the material of which it was built was used again in the erection of the present church. We have as records of this work two small account books, one containing the accounts of Thomas Armstrong, Treasurer of the congregation, and receipts for money to him from Samuel Cunningham, builder; the other, entitled " The Trustees' book for the meeting-house of Fagg's Manor, containing a true copy of the subscrip- tions taken from the original paper, divided into six quarters as entered in this book." The collectors of the six "quart- ers" were Thomas Love, John Ramsay, John Ross, James Boyd, Wm. Sterritt and Robert Cochran. The total amount of the subscriptions recorded in this book is £608, 1 Is. 6d. There is also a piece of paper containing a statement of settlement with Samuel Cunningham, dated May 16, 1783, in which his bill foots up £576, 11s. 8d. Whether this rep- resents the total cost of the building or only the cost of erection, I can not decide.
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The church building was commenced the year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the sever- ing of the colonies from the mother country .. And by the time it was completed the nation was in the midst of a bloody war. What trials the congregation underwent in the building of a church at such a time, and what part they took in the struggle for national freedom, we have no means now of ascertaining. But of their fidelity both to the cause of God and their country, we have no room to doubt .* Where were Presbyterians to be found in those days of trial, who were unwilling to hazard their all for the cause of civil and religious liberty ? It was for these blessings they sought these shores. First to resist the oppressions of the king, first to counsel separation from the mother country, first to draft declarations of independence, Pres- byterians were not found wanting when the day of trial and conflict came.
Rev. JOHN E. FINLEY,
THIRD PASTOR.
While the war was still raging the church of Fagg's Manor at last secured a pastor, Rev. John Evans Finley. He was the oldest son of Rev. James Finley who had been a pupil of Samuel Blair, had settled at East Nottingham or the Rock church, Md., and afterwards removed to Rehoboth and Round Hill in western Pennsylvania in 1734. John E. Finley was ordained and installed here August 22, 1781.
* That the congregation furnished its quota of men for the war of independence seems almost certain from the fact that two members of the session were commissioned officers, and as both were men of character and influence, they would not be without a following from their own region. Gen. Samuel Cochran and Lieut. Thomas Love were brave soldiers and men of earnest piety. Though differing in rank they were bosom friends, and occupied the same tent when in camp. And from their tent was heard to arise every day, morning and night, the voice of song and prayer as in their "family wor- ship, " they sang one of Rouse's psalms. and knelt together before the throne of grace.
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He married a daughter of one of his elders, Mr. Job Rus- ton, of whom I have already spoken. He remained here for twelve years, when the pastoral relation was dissolved (October 15, 1793), and he removed to Bracken, Ky. After laboring there for a short time he settled in the church of Red Oak, Ohio, where he died in 1.800.
The Finley family has been a noted one in the church. Our pastor's uncle, Rev. Samuel Finley, was pastor of Not- tingham church, and afterwards President of Princeton College ; his father, James, as before mentioned, was a minister. Three of his brothers were elders at Rehoboth, and his nephew, Rev. Robert M. Finley, is still living at Wooster, Ohio.
An old account book kept by Mr. Finley, and now in the possession of the Misses Love, shows that his salary was paid for the most part in wheat, and that he received it directly from the individual subscribers and kept an account with each one. At the end of the year a statement was made, and the accounts remaining unpaid were handed over to the treasurer of the congregation for collection. The treasurer at that time was Mr. James Boyd. On the last page of Mr. Finley's book is this statement in his own hand writing : "The call engages the congregation to make up four hundred bushels of wheat, tho' the subscription amounts to five hundred or upwards. Four hundred at 6s. Sd. amounts to £133, 6s. 8d., which sum being multiplied by six produces eight hundred pounds, (£800). I suppose I will have to give credit for near £500-please make up the remaining three as fast as you can.
Sep. ye 25, 1787. JNO. E. FINLEY."
The multiplication by (six by which this salary reaches the respectable sum of £800 is a reduction from a specie standard to the depreciated circulating medium of the times. The large proportion of the salary remaining unpaid is sug- gestive either of culpable delinquency or hard times ; and that the latter is the true explanation we learn from other
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sources. During the last quarter of the last century the tide of emigration was setting strongly westward, that tide which has never yet turned, but rises higher year by year. Many Presbyterian families were removing to Western Penn- sylvania, and settling in that region which through their instrumentality has attained the honor of being called the "back bone of Presbyterianism." The churches of the east were sadly depleted, some almost extinguished by this emigration. In the birth of new institutions the mother's life was put in jeopardy. This church, like others, suffered. Mr. Finley's account book foots up the loss by death and removals in one year and finds it to be one hundred and forty or one hundred fifty bushels of wheat, more than one- third of the pastor's salary. No wonder pastors became discouraged and turned their faces, like their people's, west - ward. Mr. Finley's father and brothers had gone to the west, and driven by necessity he at last followed. His application for a dissolution of the pastoral relationship was based on the ground of an insufficient support, owing to deaths and removals. " Three commissioners were appointed . by the congregation to accede in their behalf to this request. This they did by a written paper, as follows : "We, the sub- scribers, members of the congregation of Fagg's Manor, represent that some years since our pastor, the Rev. John E. Finley, informed us that by deaths and removals the subscription fell greatly short of our promise, and so much as to render his life uncomfortable with us. We have tried various methods of redress, but in vain. He now tells us that he is under the necessity of applying to Presbytery for a dissolution of his pastoral relation to this society, and for that purpose means to call a pro re nata meeting in York Town the last week in August. With sorrow it is, but in justice to him, we must concur with his request.
JOHN ROSS, THOMAS LOVE, JOHN RAMSAY."
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Among the earliest and best gifts which Fagg's Manor gave to the young west was
REV. JOHN McMILLAN, D. D.,
the celebrated founder of Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa. He was born within the bounds of this congregation November 11, 1752, prepared for college in Rev. John Blair's school, (until Mr. Blair went to Princeton), and in that of Rev. Robert Smith at Pequa, graduated at Princeton in 1772, studied theology under Rev. Robert Smith and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Castle, October 26, 1774. In the summer of 1775 and in the fol- lowing winter he spent some time preaching in Western Pennsylvania, mostly at Chartiers and Pigeon Creek churches, and was called to the pastorate of these churches in March, 1776. Having been ordained by the Presbytery of Donegal at Chambersburg on the 19th of June, and married at Forks of Brandywine on the 6th of August to Miss Catharine Brown, a daughter of one of the elders of that church, he entered upon his work, and througout a long life toiled vigorously and successfully for the cause of religion and education. Dr. McMillan has been styled the Apostle of Western Pennsylvania. When he commenced his labors in that region the country was a wilderness. The now populous and wealthy city of Pittsburg was a straggling village. So great were the privations and perils to be endured that he did not take his wife with him for more than two years after their marriage, and when at last they settled at Chartiers, after accomplishing on horseback the long journey of three hundred miles, their home was but a rude log cabin, their furniture was extemporized from boxes and boards, and their food confined to the barest necessaries of life. But they did a grand work for the cause of Christ, and from the depth of that wilderness the fame of John McMillan has spread far and wide. Besides building up his congregations, and, by widely extended labors, laying the foundation of the Presbyterian church in Western Penn-
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