USA > Pennsylvania > Huntingdon County > Huntingdon > History of the Presbytery of Huntingdon > Part 27
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Among his first aspirations after his conversion, was a desire for the Gospel ministry, and this he resolved to seek and enter at every sacri- fice. He accordingly relinquished the practice of law and removed from Lewistown to west of the mountains, to prosecute his studies for the sacred office at the Allegheny Seminary. These having been com- pleted by a two year's course, he was licensed to preach the Gospel ; and after undergoing due probation, was ordained to the full preroga- tives of the Gospel ministry.
New trials awaited him, and the partial failure of his health and sight, confined him for a season unemployed at Milroy, Mifflin county. But he was not inactive there. Entering into the controversy with the Papacy, he spent some time and means in the distribution of books on that subject, till a wider field of effort opened before him. He then became an agent of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. His residence was then removed to Philadel- phia, and he prosecuted his important agency through various parts of the State of Pennsylvania for several years, and with the marked approbation of the Board.
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At this time Mr. HALL's ecclesiastical relations were with the New
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School Assembly. He afterwards transferred his relations to the Old School, and joined the Presbytery of Carlisle. Afterwards he became an agent of the General Assembly's Board of Foreign Missions, and remained in that capacity for some time, till satisfied with agency life, he received and accepted a call to the pastoral charge of Bedford con- gregation, where he continued to labor till declining health compelled the relinquishment of the charge; not however till he had succeeded in rendering the state of affairs there financially more in accordance with the standard of accuracy, of which he was observant in all simi- lar matters. After this he acted for a short season as agent of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, and secured such patronage as he could for a cause that lay very near his heart, the liberation and col- onization of the people of color on the coast of Africa.
It became then expedient, in his view, to turn his attention to some other pursuit, requiring less physical energy than public speaking, though the Gospel ministry was the cherished object of his life. The greatest trial of his life was the necessity forced on him to cease from the active duties of the ministry, because of the state of his health. After trying another expedient, which failed, at last a scheme of use- fulness offered, which he was about to try on his return to Bedford, where he proposed opening a female seminary ; when his wearied mind and waning frame were gently parted by the unexpected sum- mons of death, as he lay resting from a morning walk.
Such are the facts in the eventful history of a man remarkable for great activity of mind and body, of unquestionable talent of a supe- rior order, of mercurial temperament, of devoted character. He was evidently ripening for his great change for many months before it came ; and as successive inroads by nervous debility were made upon his frame, he seemed to feel admonished to be always ready ; and ‹loubtless when the Master came and called for him, his transit was easy from the border where he had often been before, to the actual territory of "the rest remaining for the people of God."
He left a widow and several sons and daughters to mourn his loss. His youngest son has since become greatly distinguished as a lawyer and a politician; another is distinguished as the judge of the judicial district of which Bedford is the centre; and one of his daughters is married to the Hon. FRANCIS JORDAN, late Secretary of the Common- wealth, and prominently spoken of as a suitable candidate for Governor.
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THO! HUNTER, LITH. PHIL!
REV. JOSHUA MOORE.
REV. JOSHUA MOORE.
R EV. JOSHUA MOORE, a member of this Presbytery, died April 15, 1854. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born at a small town on the Allegheny mountains, called Beulah. His father was an Englishman, who, with a number of others, attempted to settle at the place named. The attempt to effect a permanent settlement not suc- ceeding according to expectation, his father removed with his family to Washington City, D. C., while the subject of this memoir was yet quite a boy. In what year he was born is not certainly known, but he was supposed to have been about 55 years of age at the time of his death. At Washington City he received his early education, and remained there until he entered upon his collegiate course in Jeffer- son College, Canonsburg, where he graduated about 1820. After leav- ing college he pursued the usual course of theological studies at Princeton. Being licensed to preach the Gospel, he became the pastor soon of the Presbyterian church in Detroit, Michigan. How long he continued in this charge, is not known. His next settlement was over a congregation on the eastern shore of Maryland, perhaps Snow Hill, where he married the daughter of a respectable physician and elder of the Presbyterian church. His pastoral relation to the con- gregation in Maryland was dissolved in 1831-2, and for a time he became stated supply of the Presbyterian church of Norristown, Pa. His next and last charge was the congregation of East Kishacoquillas. of which he was the pastor for nearly twenty years, and in connection with which he died.
Mr. MOORE was distinguished for eminent piety, not bustling and obstrusive, but substantial and enduring; his religion was a living principle, a constant habit of soul. No one could pass from commun- ion with him, without the conviction being deeply impressed upon his mind, that he was eminently a man of God. Next to his eminent piety were his mental endowments and literary attainments. The
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qualities of his mind, like his piety, perhaps were not showy, but they were most substantial. His literary attainments were more than respectable; in some respects and in some departments they were em- inent. He excelled in the knowledge of history, especially ecclesias- tical history, and at the same time was a good Latin, Greek and Hebrew scholar. There were few wl.o possessed more general infor- mation on all scientific subjects. As a theologian his knowledge was extensive and accurate. As a preacher he was eminently instructive and substantial, and sometimes, when the occasion was such as to call forth all his powers, truly eloquent. In varied, appropriate, and im- pressive prayer, he excelled. As a pastor he was affectionate and faithful. In seasons of affliction he was among his people the sympa- thizing friend and the tender pastor. He excelled as a spiritual director and comforter. His affectionate pastoral visits, and glowing sympathies, gushing from a sincere and warm heart, will long be remembered by the people of his late charge. He was a man of refined taste and lively sensibility ; and capable of suffering intensely from unkindness himself, he was scarcely ever known to utter any- thing having the appearance of harshness, and was incapable of har- boring a vindictive spirit. A childlike simplicity characterized him in many respects. His disposition was almost altogether free from sus- picion. Simple and sincere himself, he was incapable of suspecting others. In a word-"he was an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile." He died sincerely lamented by his brethren of the Pres- bytery, and the people of his charge.
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ThOF HURT LA, LITH PHILA
REV.JOHN PEEBLES.
REV. JOHN PEEBLES.
THE REV. JOHN PEEBLES was the son of Captain ROBERT PEEBLES, an officer in the Revolutionary war, who resided near Shippensburg, Pa., at the time of the birth of the subject of this notice, the 17th of July, 1800. He was a graduate of Jefferson Col- lege, studied Theology at the Princeton Seminary and was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Carlisle, in the Spring of 1824. In November, 1824, on the recommendation of the late Rev. HENRY R. WILSON, D. D., he visited Huntingdon, the Presbyterian church there being then vacant. His pulpit exercises gave such general satisfac- tion that he was engaged to continue his ministerial labors as stated supply during the winter. On the 22d and 23d of April, 1825, he was regularly called to the churches of Huntingdon and Hartslog, (Alexandria; ) the former for two-thirds and the latter for one-third of his pastorall abors, and he was ordained and installed in the following June. An unhappy division had arisen in the Hartslog congregation during the pastorate of his predecessor, the Rev. JOHN JOHNSTON. The disaffected portion procured a separate organization and called the Rev. Mr. THOMPSON as their pastor. Each of the parties built new church edifices. Mr. PEEBLES continued his labors in the other branch until the deccase of Mr. THOMPSON, when, with his characteristic disinterestedness and love of peace, he notified his charge that the auspicious time had arrived to heal the existing breach in the congregation, and to effect this he intended to resign his pastoral charge. Convinced by the purity of his motives they yielded to his friendly suggestion and through his mediation a union was effected which has happily continued until the present day. After relinquishing his charge at Alexandria he labored succes- sively at the villages of Newton Hamilton and Williamsburg, until at each place they were prepared to take a regular portion of a
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pastor's time. During the latter part of his ministry the Hunt- ingdon church engaged three-forths of his time. He, however, gen- erally employed the reserved one-fourth in preaching to a part of the congregation in the country or in town. His health, at no time very firm, gradually declined. He became impressed with the belief, which no expostulation of his friends could remove, that it was his duty to resign his pastoral charge. After much hesitation and frequent remonstrances on the part of the church, a reluctant acqui- escence was yielded to his wishes, and the pastoral relation which had so beneficially and happily existed, was dissolved in the Spring of 1850. With regard to his pulpit exercises his sermons were characterized rather by correctness of composition, solidity of matter and practical application to the every day concerns of life than by brilliancy of thought or imaginative flights. He seldom indulged in anecdotes or figurative language introduced merely for the sake of ornament. His occasional discourses and addresses were always appropriate and evinced a cultivated taste and correct scholarship. Diffidence of his oratorical powers and an early acquired habit of reading his sermons, prevented all attempts at extemporaneous preaching. His evening discourse was usually delivered from short notes and his week day lectures without any. He was highly gifted in prayer. The fervency and fluency of his addresses at the Throne of Grace, gave evidence that lie was entirely "at home" in that part of pulpit exercises. But the loveliness of his private character, the prac- tical piety and conscientious performance of all the duties of life were the winning charms which so greatly endeared him to his pastoral charge and to all who had an intimate acquaintance with him. His whole life was a " living epistle" illustrating the benign influence of the gospel which he preached. He left Huntingdon soon after giving up his pastoral charge, and in the Spring of 1851 removed with his family to the western part of Virginia, a few miles from Parkersburg. where he had purchased a farm. While there he was not a " loiterer in his Master's vineyard." He usually preached on the Sabbath. and succeeded in the face of considerable opposition on the part of another denomination, in having a church edifice built and a small congregation organized in his neighborhood. He returned with his family to Huntingdon in May, 1854. His health was feeble, though he preached occasionally until a very short time before his last illness. On the 3d of August he was seized with fever of a typhoid or
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bilious character, accompanied by distressing symptoms evincing a general lack of physical power.
His answers to inquiries respecting his state of mind gave satis- factory evidence that he had no dread of death, resting his hopes entirely on the mediation of the Redeemer. In view of his depar- tutre and the glories of the upper Sanctuary, he more than once exclaimed-"O, that will be joyful !" About 9 o'clock on Friday evening, the 11th of August, he calmly expired.
Mr. PEEBLES was twice married; first to MARIA, daughter of WIL- LIAM B. DUFFIELD, M. D., of Philadelphia, on the 4th of May, 1824, · who died on the 26th of February, 1831, leaving one daughter ; and on the 5th of August, 1834, to JANE, daughter of Mr. JOHN, LAPSLEY of Philadelphia, who, with five children, two sons and three daughters, survive to mourn the loss of an affectionate husband and father.
REV. JOHN M'KINNEY.
ITTHE REV. JOHN MCKINNEY died at Hollidaysburg, after a brief illness, on the 25th day of August, 1867. He was born on the 26th day of August, 1797, being 71 years of age at the time of his death, wanting one day.
Mr. MCKINNEY spent his early youth near Jacksonsville, Centre county, Pa., and was trained under the ministry of that venerable servant of God, Rev. JAMES LINN, D. D., and by him first received into the communion of the church. He received his literary educa- tion at Jefferson College, studied Theology at Princeton Seminary, and was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. on the 22d of April, 1824. Having received a call from the Pres- byterian church of Fredericktown, Knox county, Ohio, he was ordained April, 1829, and installed pastor of said church. His pas- toral relation to this church was dissolved October, 1837. A call from the church of Alexandria having been presented to and accepted by Mr. McKINNEY, he was installed over this charge in May, 1838. Here he continued to labor faithfully in connection with Pine Grove church, of which he was stated supply till July, 1848, when at his own request the pastoral relation was dissolved. Remov- ing immediately to the State of Ohio, he took charge of the congre- gation of Oswego. After a few years Mr. MCKINNEY returned within the bounds of this Presbytery and lived among his family and friends without any particular charge until the time of his death. As a preacher he was plain, practical and orthodox. As a man he was amiable and always consistent in character; exemplifying in his daily walk the practical lessons which he taught from the pulpit. Conscientiously punctual in attendance upon the meetings of Presbytery and other ecclesiastical courts. though never given to much speaking, his judgment was sound and his opinions always respected by his brethren.
In fine, he was a good man, a useful minister, and is now without doubt, enjoying the reward of the faithful servant.
REV. JAMES WILLIAMSON.
ITTHE Rev. JAMES WILLIAMSON, recently a member of Huntingdon Presbytery, was born June 11, 1795, in Mifflin township, Cum- berland county, Pa. His parents were of Scotch-Irish descent, and were particular in the religious training of their children. His father was twice married, and had fourteen children. At one period of his life he had the satisfaction of knowing that every one of his children, then living, was a member of the Presbyterian church; that several of his sons had graduated at different colleges, and that five of his sons were, or had been, ministers of the Presbyterian Church. James received his academical education partly at Cumberland, Maryland, and partly at Hopewell Academy, six miles north of Shippensburg. He received his collegiate education partly at Dickinson, and partly at Washington College. At the latter institution he graduated with honor, the delivery of the Latin Salutatory being assigned to him. He became the subject of a saving change, as he hoped, the last year he was in college. His theological education was received at Prince- ton Seminary. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, November, 1820. For about a year he had a large circuit assigned him as missionary in Northern Pennsylvania, the prominent points of which were Wilkesbarre, Montrose, Athens, &c. There was no Pres- byterian organization in all this region, at that time. In the Fall of 1821 he returned to Princeton Seminary, where he remained as a resi- dent licentiate until the June following, when he accepted an invita- tion to supply the church of Athens, a point in his former missionary field. Whilst here God visited his church with a remarkable outpour- ing of his Spirit, the result of which was an addition to that church of sixty or seventy persons. About this time the Luzerne Congrega- tional Association of ministers resolved themselves into a Presbytery,
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designated then, and has been ever since, as the Luzerne Presbytery. By this Presbytery Brother WILLIAMSON was ordained and set apart to the full work of the Gospel ministry. In the year 1823 he accepted a call from the Silver Spring congregation, Cumberland county, Pa., where he remained for nearly fourteen years. During these years his church was visited with several seasons of revival, the most remarka- ble of which was in 1832. His pastoral relation here was dissolved with a view to his accepting a call from Peoria, Illinois, but which, for some reason, he eventually declined. In 1838 he accepted a call to Milton in the Presbytery of Northumberland. During the first years of his ministry here his labors were much blest. In 1847 he became pastor of the churches of New Berlin, Hartleton, and Mifflinburg, Union county, Pa. In 1849 he accepted a call from East Windsor and Fancytown churches, Baltimore Presbytery. During the time he re- mained here Thorndale Female Seminary and Glenham Male Acad- emy were twice visited with seasons of refreshing from on high. In 1854 he accepted a call from the church of Athens, where he had labored thirty years before, and where his labors had been crowned with such remarkable success. In the year 1858 he accepted a call to West Kishacoquillas church. During the short time he remained here forty-nine were added to this church. After his resignation of this congregation he was elected superintendent of the common schools of Mifflin county, which office he accepted, and at the same time supplied the church of Little Valley. It was during a commun- ion season in this church that he was stricken with paralysis, from which he never recovered. His sufferings were severe and protracted ; but his resignation and submission were marked. His death was peaceful and triumphant. It took place at his residence in Lewis- town, March 10, 1865.
Brother WILLIAMSON was twice married. By his first wife (Miss P. M. HOPKINS) he had four children, all of whom survive him. By his last wife, (Miss C. GEDDES, ) three, only one of whom still lives.
REV. ANDREW JARDINE.
THE REV. ANDREW JARDINE departed this life in the 83d T year of his age and the 36th of his ministry, on the 15th of May, 1868, in East Maine, Broome county, New York. Mr. JARDINE was born on the 25th of February, 1785, in the parish of Southdean, Scotland. His parents, THOMAS JARDINE and JANET OLIVER, were pious members of the Established church of Scotland. When a child he was struck by lightning, which for a time impaired his physical constitution and nearly deprived him of sight. Early in life he formed the desire to become a minister of the gospel, but his parents were unable through poverty to afford him an edu- cation ; and one-half of his long life was spent in acquiring it for himself. To do this, he worked on a farm, tended sheep and taught schools in his neighborhood. Having through these means acquired funds enough to enable him to attend a Grammar school, he entered one at Jedburg. After having obtained there a competent knowledge of the English, Latin, and Greek branches, he next became a teacher of a parish school in the county of Northumberland, in England. He remained in that position four years, after which he entered the Edinburgh University. During his attendance here he taught a classical school, and was for some years Secretary to the Scottish Bible Society. After many years spent in laborious prepa- ration, he was licensed to preach the gospel in 1832, by the Pres- bytery of New Castle, in England, and for six months thereafter supplied the church at Felton, England, during the absence of the regular minister. In 1834 a gentleman who had acquired a large tract of land at Silver Lake in the North Eastern part to Pennsyl- vania, raised a colony of emigrants in and around Jedburg, in Scotland, for the purpose of settling on that land, He also invited Mr. JARDINE to be their pastor and he consented. He was ordained
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for that purpose by the Presbytery of New Castle. With this colony Mr. JARDINE arrived at New York on the 5th of August, 1834, and repaired directly to Silver Lake and entered upon the duties of his ministry. But the colony did not exist long; for finding affairs very different from what they had been represented in England, dissatisfaction ensued and the colony soon disbanded, and the members thereof, Mr. JARDINE included, sought more con- genial situations.
In April, 1836, after a long and searching examination of his faith in those doctrines which then agitated the church, he was cordially received as a foreign minister by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Shortly afterwards he became stated supply to a church in Maryland, in which situation he remained five years; then at Derham church in Tinicum, Pa., for one year ; and afterwards for eighteen months to a church at Port Carbon, Pa. But earnestly desirous of obtaining a permanent charge, and learning that a colony of his countrymen in Clearfield county, Pa., desired a pastor, he concluded to pay them a visit and tender his services. While on his way there he met the Rev. JOHN HUTCHESON, then pastor of Mifflintown and Lost Creek, who called his attention to a vacant church of Middle Tuscarora, Juniata county, and advised him to apply for that. Yielding to Mr. HUTCHESON's persuasions, he accompanied him and was by him intro- duced to the congregation. That church heard him gladly ; in due time he was called, and he was regularly installed as their pastor by
the Presbytery of Huntingdon. There he labored abundantly for sixteen years, and for a long time with eminent success. The church grew rapidly under his ministry until it numbered nearly five hundred members. But in course of time, old age with its infirmities came upon him, and a long and severe fever impaired his faculties, both mental and bodily. The old members gradually died off and the young became weary of his old fashioned style of preaching. Thinking that he had survived his usefulness, the church asked for a dissolution of the pastoral relation. This action on their part hurt his feelings exceedingly ; for he tenderly loved all the lambs of his flock, and it was always his cherished desire to live and die with them. Besides he had labored faithfully during the best years of his ministry for the miserable pittance of four hundred dollars salary per annum; and at this time, nearly two thousand dollars of that miserable pittance was still due to him. But the Huntingdon
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Presbytery believing that it would prove advantageous to all parties concerned, having received a guarantee that all the arrears of his stipend should be paid, concluded to dissolve the pastoral relation. This they did much to his sorrow and regret. After this he had no fixed charge. For a few months he supplied the con- gregation of Mount Pleasant, in Clearfield county, Pa., after which, in 1858, he removed to East Maine, Broome county, New York, to the residence of his cousin, WILLIAM HOGG, Esq., where he remained until his death.
REV. GEORGE W. THOMPSON, D. D.
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G' YEORGE W. THOMPSON was born in New Providence, Essex county, New Jersey, on the 10th day of October, 1819. Two or three years later his family removed to New Brunswick, where the greater part of his early life was passed. In 1835, in his 16th year, he made a profession of religion in the church, then under the care of the Rev. JOSEPH H. JONES, D. D. After graduating at "Rutger's Col- lege," New Brunswick, he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, and completed the regular course of study. While con- nected with this institution he labored for sixmonths in Cazenovia, N. Y., under the direction of the pastor there. Before leaving the semi- mary he was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and was immediately invited to become the minister of the Presbyterian church in Danville, Pa. After remaining there a short time he accepted a call to the churches of Mifflinburg and New Berlin, at the latter of which places he was married to Miss MARY ANN STILLWELL. His ordination and installation took place in 1841 or 1842. During this pastorate he preached also at Hartleton, where a church was soon organized. In the Spring of 1847 he was called to the church of Lower Tuscarora, which he served for seventeen years. Toward the close of his minis- try there the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the trustees of Jefferson College. He died at his home in Academia, Tuscarora Valley, on the 28th of January, 1864, of congestion of the liver, in the fourth month of the 45th year of his age, leaving a wife and two children.
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