USA > Pennsylvania > Huntingdon County > Huntingdon > History of the Presbytery of Huntingdon > Part 32
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"My father and my mother both having had Scotch-Irish Presbyterian training, adhered to it strictly in the training of their children. The child as soon as it could lisp was taught the Mother's Catechism, Apostles'
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Creed, and talked to about God and the Saviour ; and as soon as he eonld read, was required to commit to memory the Shorter Catechism ; and every Sabbath evening, a part of the religious exercises was to answer the questions. I do not think that so long as I remained at home, a Sabbath ever passed without having this attended to."
Mrs. GILLILAND, the wife of JOSEPH GILLILAND, died, July 18, 1830, and in 1840, Mr. GILLILAND died on his farm at Egg Hill, Centre county, in the seventy-first year of his age. They were the parents of eleven children-seven sons and four daughters; of whom four sons are still living, and two of them are elders in the Presbyte- rian church.
HON. WILLIAM M'CAY.
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M R. McCAY was born in Scotland, but while yet a child his father removed to Claugher, County Tyrone, Ireland. There he spent his youthful days. He came to this country in 1801, landing in Philadelphia, where he married in 1803. He came to Tuscarora Valley, Juniata county (then Mifflin county,) in 1804, where he enjoyed the ministry of that excellent man, the Rev. JOHN COULTER, and in 1810 removed to Lewistown, where he connected himself with the Presbyterian church, then about settling as its pastor the Rev. WILLIAM KENNEDY. He was elected and ordained an elder in said congregation in 1811 or 1812. He was a man universally respected for his strictly religious character, conscien- tiousness, intelligence, and public spirit. He was a leading spirit in the church, in the town, and in the community generally. Brought up in the strictest principles of the faith and practice of the Presbyterian church, he carried them out in his life to an ex- tent that would now be considered righteous over much. He would permit nothing to be done in his house on the Sabbath day that could have been foreseen on the day before, and provided for,. and which was not absolutely indispensible. He would permit no vietuals to be cooked, or dishes to be washed on the Sabbath. To boil the tea kettle, and make a cup of tea, with the setting on the table the cold victuals prepared on Saturday, was the amount of work he would permit in his house on the Sabbath day. And his life during the week, in his intercourse and business with the world, was in accordance with his sanctification of the Sabbath. How would these old Presbyterian fathers, could they rise from the grave, be surprised at the extreme looseness of their children in regard to the sanctification of the Sabbath. Mr. McCAY, as a member of the church, and especially as an elder, was the unfailing reliance of his
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pastor. In all matters of doctrine or of discipline, he was as the right hand of the pastor. No member of the session had more, or even so much influence as Mr. McCAY, and it was always exerted to sustain the pastor, and the peace and purity of the church. As a citizen he was no less prominent and efficient. The town of Lewis- town. of which he was long its chief burgess, owed most of its public improvements to his foresight, prudence, and diligence. He was known and honored as a citizen beyond the limits of the town, and even the county, in which he lived. He was a patriot, and at the time of the war of 1812, raised a company for the service of the country, and received a military commission from Governor SNYDER-marched towards the front, but the war ended before he was called to any active service as a soldier. He was made a jus- tice of the peace by Governor HEISTER, a notary public by Governor WOLF, and associate judge of Mifflin county, by Governor PORTER. Who will not more appreciate the memory of these excellent Gov- ernors, that they were capable of honoring the character of this excellent man and citizen? He who was so faithful to his God, could not but be conscientious in any trust committed to his hands. Judge McCAY died at Lewistown, December 13, 1841, in the 63d year of his age. His family, so far as known to the writer, con- sisted of two sons and one daughter, who lived to maturity. His eldest son died before his father; and the younger became a min- ister of the gospel, in connection with the Presbyterian church ; settled soon after his licensure in Clarion county, Pa. ; volunteered as a chaplain during the war of the rebellion ; and died at Lewis- town on his way home from the army, in 1862, of disease contracted in the service. The Rev. DAVID McCAY, of Clarion county, was a son worthy of his parentage. He was buried in the cemetery of the church in Clarion county, which he served with unabated acept- ance till the last.
The following letter was written by an early friend of the Rev. DAVID MCCAY, sometime after the notice of his death reached him. It is dated-BUELL's.army, near Cumberland river, Tennessee :
" It is with profound sorrow that in this far-off country, I have read the obituary notice of the Rev. DAVID MCCAY. And I cannot but ask the privilege of saying one word in memory of a man, who, perhaps, above all others within the circle of my acquaintance, led a spotless and blame- less life. Amiable in his disposition, and possessing a mind of high order,
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he, early in life was looked up to by his companions as a counsellor, guide and friend. The few of his school fellows and playmates of the Juniata, that are left, will remember with lively gratification the many kind acts of friendship bestowed upon them by their departed friend; and that while they had sparring and occasionally childish quarrels, yet never with DAVID MCCAY. His gravity of deportment, and equanimity of temper never carried him into excitements, or lured him into the paths of mischief. Others may have tasted the fruits of their neighbor's garden without the owner's permission, or the watermelon that could only be had by a viola- tion of one of God's commandments, but which too often is looked upon as a youthful indiscretion, but none of them by the subject of this article. Religion in early life had taken fast hold upon him. The example of a father, who, if he erred at all, it was by his rigid adherence to the gospel truths, which he did with almost puritanical rigor ; or of a mother, who, with christian meekness, lay for long years prostrate on a bed of sickness, had its influence in forming the character of this most estimable man.
Forty years since, or more, there was but little church service of any kind in Lewistown, other than which was held in the old court house ; that quaint old edifice that stood in the centre of the public square. Here, on each Sabbath morning might be seen those venerated fathers of the Presbyterian church, Mr. WALTERS, Mr. MCCAY, and Mr. ROBISON, and indeed nearly the whole town, wending their way to hear the Rev. Mr. KENNEDY preach from the judge's bench ; and here was the rite of baptism performed on DAVID McCAY. And in long after years, when the Rev- erend gentleman, by an appeal to be received into the ministry of the church, from which he had been suspended for many years, young MCCAY, then but recently in the ministry, sat as one of his judges. In describing the scene to the writer, he spoke of it as one that caused in his breast emo- tions singularly painful, and yet gratifying, that his first pastor, then a penitent man, could, by his vote, be restored to the ministry, and could again go forth to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That vote was given, and that old man lived to call him blessed; and he once more returned to the town, where he had so long ministered, to find many changes, and some of them, alas ! how sad.
That the subject of our sketch took a lively interest in the success of our arms, I can readily believe ; and the fact that he followed the army of his country to the tented field, that he might minister to his dying country- inen, spoke of a heart in the right place.
Few ever passed to the tomb so well prepared to meet a righteous Judge at the last great day, and may the influence of his example be felt in long after years. Those of his schoolfellows who survive him, will remember how excellent he was in his class, how he excelled in his studies, and how readily he drank in knowledge .. If by his weak voice he failed to attract
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DECEASED RULING ELDERS. 353
the attention of the lover of rhetorical display, yet he never failed to attract the interest of the attentive listener, as his discourses were clear and methodical, evincing a mind of no common order. His was not that of an empty bubble, but a depth of learning that to be appreciated, should be heard and studied with deep attention.
. Farewell, friend of my boyhood days. Your spirit has found an eternal rest, and if in that unknown world, you are permitted to raise your voice in praise, that youthful voice that sweetly sang in the old stone church, was but a prelude of your heavenly music."
Died, in this place, (Lewistown, Pa.,) at the residence of Major M. BUoy, his brother-in-law, on the 4th day of June A. D., 1862, Rev. DAVID MCCAY, of Callensburg, Clarion county, lately Chaplain of 103d regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, (Colonel LEHMAN,) aged 44 years, 2 months, and 18 days.
Mr. McCAY contracted the disease of which he died, (typhoid fever,) through exposure in camp beyond Williamsburg, Va., soon after the battle at that place. His remains were taken to Callensburg for interment among his parishoners, where he was greatly beloved as a pastor. Callensburg was his first and only charge after he entered the ministry, a vocation which he adorned in life.
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HON. EPHRAIM BANKS.
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M R. BANKS was born in Lost Creek Valley, then a part of Mifflin county, now Juniata, January 17, 1791. He came to Lewistown in 1817, and was appointed prothonotary by governor Findley in 1818, serving three years, and commenced the practice of law at Lewistown in 1823. He was elected to the Legislature successively in the years 1826, 1827 and 1828. Mr. BANKS was a member, by election, of the Reform .Convention which assembled at Harrisburg, May 2, 1837, and which framed the present constitution of Pennsylvania; adopting it finally at its sessions in Philadelphia, February 22, 1838. He was elected auditor general of the State in 1850, and re-elected in 1853, serving six years; and finally was elected associate judge of Mifflin county in 1866, which office he held at the time of his death, which occurred at his residence in Lewistown, January 6, 1871, aged four- score years, lacking eleven days. At the time of his death, the fol- lowing notice of Judge BANKS was written by the editor of the Lewis- town True Democrat :
"For more than half a century Judge BANKS was one of the leading men of Lewistown; and no man ever stood higher in public esteem, or commanded more generally the respect of his contemporaries.
Though an ardent democrat, and always firm in his political convictions, public confidence in his personal integrity, and qualifications for responsible positions, was such that, when before the people as a candidate for office, he invariably received a very large support from members of the opposing party. His walk and conversation everywhere, and at all times, were be- fitting his character as a christian gentleman. In every sphere of life he occupied a high position, whether as a citizen, or a member of the Presby- terian Church."
But Judge BANK's life as a christian and a ruling elder in the Pres- byterian Church, is most in accordance with our design to record.
THO! HUNTER, LITH. PHIL:
HON. EPHRAIM BANKS.
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He united with the Presbyterian church of Mifflintown, then under the care of the Rev. JOHN HUTCHESON as pastor, in 1814, being then in the twenty-third year of his age. As already stated, he removed to Lewistown in 1817, where he became connected with the Presbyterian church, then under the charge of Rev. WILLIAM KENNEDY. What time he was elected to the eldership is not now certainly known, as the records of that church previous to 1829 are lost, but he was an elder at that time, and the probability is that he was elected and or- dained an elder in 1823, or 1824. He often represented the church in the meetings of Presbytery, and as often, perhaps, as any other elder, represented the Presbytery in the meetings of the General Assembly. He represented the Presbytery in the General Assemblies of 1832-35-48 and 55; and how many times besides, we do not know : and he was no inefficient member of church judicatories; his opin- ions were always looked for and respected, and he was always ap- pointed on the most important committees. In the church at home, he was always as the. pastor's right hand. According to his Scotch- Irish Presbyterian training, he was firmly settled in the well-known doctrines of the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the Presbyte- rian Church. In the times that tried the faith and patience of the church, Judge BANKS was immovable in adhering to, and defending the good old ways in which the fathers walked, and the doctrines in which he had been taught. To the eldership of the church in gen- eral, and to such as Mr. BANKS in particular, the church is greatly in- debted for passing safely through the scenes of trouble from 1830 till they culminated in division in 1838. He lived, however, to see the wide breach healed.
Judge BANKS was not only faithful in his position as an elder of the church, bnt refused not the humblest service, by which he could pro- mote the cause of the Master. He was a diligent and faithful teacher in the Sabbath-School, till the infirmities of age compelled him to desist, and also shut him out from attendance on the public worship of the sanctuary ; which was the greatest grievance of the last year, or years of his life.
" He died as only a christian can die." After a long life of useful- ness on earth, reaching even beyond the age generally allotted to men, his spirit passed away quietly, its departure not even being marked by a struggle.
Immediately upon his death the members of the county court held
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a meeting, and passed appropriate resolutions, of which our limits will only allow us to copy two :
" Resolved, That Judge BANKS possessed social qualities of the highest order. He was kind, gentle, and courteous, and a warm and true friend. But the crowning glory of his character was, that he was a sincere and devoted christian, and an humble yet carnest follower of the Divine Master.
" Resolved, That the court, with its officers and members of the bar, pro- ceed in a body to attend the funeral of the deceased."
The funeral took place on the Monday following his death. As a token of respect for the deceased, the banks, stores, and other public business of the town were all closed while the funeral ceremonies were being performed.
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Engraved by
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HON. HUGH N. M'ALLISTER ..
H ON. HUGH N. McALLISTER was of Scotch-Irish descent; his great grandfather having emigrated from Ireland to Lancaster county, Pa., about the year 1730. His grandfather, Major HUGH Mc- ALLISTER, was born in Little Britain township, Lancaster county, in 1736. He enlisted as a private in Captain FORBES' company in the Indian war of 1763, and served faithfully until the close of hostilities. During the darkest hour of the revolutionary struggle, HUGH McALL- ISTER was the first man to volunteer as a private, to form a company for the purpose of reinforcing the shattered army of WASHINGTON. This company was raised in Lost Creek Valley, now Juniata county, and was commanded by Captain JOHN HAMILTON, the father of HUGH HAMILTON, Esq., of Harrisburg. The company joined the army of WASHINGTON the day after the capture of the Hessians at Trenton. HUGH MCALLISTER was successively promoted to be lieu- tenant, captain and major. Towards the close of the war he was in command of the forces stationed at Potter's Fort, Centre county, and commanded an expedition sent to punish the Indians for depre- dations committed near the Great Island, where the city of Lock Haven now stands. At the close of the war, Major MCALLISTER retired to his farm in Lost Creek Valley. He was married to SARAH NELSON, and raised a large family. Hon. WILLAM MCALLISTER, son of Major H. MCALLISTER and SARAH NELSON, was born on the farm of his father in Lost Creek Valley, in August, A. D., 1774. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812; and was, for a long time, one of the associate judges of Juniata county. He was married to SARAH THOMPSON.
HUGH N. MCALLISTER, eldest son of Hon. WILLIAM MCALLISTER and SARAII THOMPSON, was born on the farm owned by his father and grandfather, in Lost Creek Valley, Juniata county, Pa., June 28,
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1809. He lived at home and worked upon his father's farm during his minority, receiving such elementary education as the schools of the neighborhood afforded. He received his instructions in the rudi- ments of the classics from Rev. JOHN HUTCHESON, pastor of the church of Mifflin and Lost Creek. He entered the freshman class at Jeffer- son College, Canonsburg, in 1830, and stood so high before the end of the year. as to be chosen by his society as one of its debaters, which honor, however, his modesty and timidity induced him to de- cline. He graduated in 1833, high in a class in which were many more, since distinguished in the church and State. As soon as he (Mr. McALLISTER) graduated, he commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. W. W. POTTER, in Bellefonte. After completing the ordinary course of studies pursued by students in an office, he attended a law school, then conducted at Carlisle, by Hon. JOHN REED, president judge of that district, and author of "Pennsylvania Blackstone." In 1835 he was admitted to practice in the several courts of Centre county ; and was at once taken into full partnership with Mr. POTTER, and the election of the latter to Congress soon after threw at once the whole labor and responsibility of an extensive law practice upon the young partner. The early death of Mr. POTTER while in Congress, left Mr. MCALLISTER alone in the practice, to com- pete with one of the ablest bars in the State. As a counsellor he was always discreet, careful, and safe. As an attorney he was faithful, honest, and industrions. As an advocate he was earnest, zealous, and at times, impressively eloquent. He would embark in no man's cause unless thoroughly impressed with its justice, and then he battled as only a man of his temperament could battle for the right.
During the late war Mr. McALLISTER was one of the most earnest and zealous supporters of the administration. He was ever fore- most in contributing means and performing work to secure volun- teers, and in supporting the families of those who were in the service. Although far beyond the age when men are relieved from military duty, he raised a full company by his almost unaided exertions, was elected its captain, went into service, and continued till his place could be filled by a younger man.
Mr. MCALLISTER never held many public offices. On several occa- sions, by different Governors, he was offered president judgeships, but always declined. At the Republican convention held for the pur- pose of nominating delegates at large to the convention to reformn the State constitution, Mr. MCALLISTER was one of the fourteen nom-
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inated; and the nomination was equivalent to an election. He entered upon his work with the energy and zeal which ever charac- terized him. Unfortunately he did not limit his labor to his phys- ical capacity to endure it. Towards the close of the Winter, his strength gave way under incessant toil, and he was compelled by his physicians to return home to rest.
After remaining at home for a few weeks, and his health being in some measure recruited, he returned to the convention at Phila- delphia, and at once engaged arduously in its labors. He had over estimated his strength, for his intense labor brought on the disease, which in a few days terminated his earthly career. He died at his boarding house in Philadelphia, May 5, 1873, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Upon the announcement of his death by the President, the convention adjourned till the following day ; when appropriate resolutions were offered and passed in relation to the sad event; and glowing eulogies on the character of the deceased, were pronounced by many members of the convention, and a committee of seven appointed to accompany the body to its home in Bellefonte, and attend the funeral. At a meeting of the Bellefonte bar, and members of the bars of Clinton, Clearfield, and Huntingdon counties, suitable resolutions were adopted expressive of their sense of the great loss which they had sustained, in common with the community, the church, and the State.
As a citizen Mr. McALLISTER was always enterprising, public spirited, and patriotic. He was one of the projectors, the constant friends and liberal supporters of the Agricultural College of Penn- sylvania, now the Pennsylvania State College. He was a friend of the common schools, academies, and seminaries, as well as Sunday schools. For many years he was the recognized head of the organi- zation in the county for the promotion of temperance. As a neigh- bor, he was ever considerate, obliging and liberal. As a man, he was just, upright, and inflexibly honest. As a christian, he was sincere, faithful and most exemplary. For a long time he was not only a member, but an elder in the Presbyterian church of Bellefonte ; and took an active part in the labors of the Session, Presbyteries, and General Assemblies. If he was not the originator of the scheme of ministerial sustentation, he was a very active friend to it. He was the chairman of the committee of the Presbytery of Huntingdon on sustentation, at the time of his death. The death of Mr. McALLISTER was as much a loss to the church as it was to the State.
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Mr. McALLISTER was twice married-first to HENRIETTA ASHMAN ORBISON of Huntingdon, Pa., (sister of JAMES H. ORBISON, the Foreign missionary,) by whom he had seven children, four of whom died in infancy ; and one, a daughter, died in 1866, at the age of twenty. Two daughters, MARY A., the wife of Gen. JAMES A. BEAVER, and SARAH B., wife of Dr. THOMAS R. HAYES, both of Bellefonte, survive their father. The first Mrs. McALLISTER died April 12, 1857; and on September the 12, 1859, Mr. MCALLISTER married MARGARET HAM- ILTON of Harrisburg, a granddaughter of Captain JOHN HAMILTON, under whom his grandfather served in the revolution, and daughter of HUGH HAMILTON. By this second marriage Mr. MCALLISTER had no children.
Mr. McALLISTER Was a remarkable man for his energy, industry, and indomitable perseverance. It was well for society that his purposes were all guided and controlled by moral virtue, patriotism, and re- ligion. He never yielded to difficulties or discouragements in any cause which he undertook. His perseverance in regard to the estab- lishment of the Agricultural College, is proof of this trait in his char- acter. If any cause failed in the hands of Mr. McALLISTER, it was simply because success was absolutely impossible. His conscientious devotion, and laborious application to any work which he undertook, and especially to his last great work and trust, hastened the utter breaking down of a constitution already enfeebled by former labors. The sketch of his life may be closed with the concluding sentence of a speech of Ex-Judge SAMUEL LINN, at the time of his burial-" Now may we say of him, in view of his life, in view of his virtues, and in view of the manner in which he discharged every duty belonging to him, ' Well done, good and faithful servant.' ''
JUDGE JOSEPH KYLE.
THE father of Judge KYLE was probably of foreign birth. He set- T tled in Kishacoquillas Valley in 1767, near to the present site of the town of Milroy, Mifflin county, Pa. His family then consisted of his wife and one daughter. All his household effects were carried on horseback to the cabin which he had built for the temporary accom- modation of his family. The subject of the present sketch was born there in 1781. His advantages in early life of education were very limited, being only a few months in a country school during the winter season. His father being a member of the Presbyterian Church, he was trained very strictly in its doctrines and discipline. His father's name, JOHN KYLE, appears on that famous call presented by the East Kishacoquillas church to the Rev. JAMES JOHNSTON in 1783. At what period of his life Judge KYLE connected himself with the church by a public profession is not definitely known, but it was early in life. In due time he married, and, in the course of years, became the head of a numerous family of sons and daughters. In 1830 he was chosen an elder of the church in which he was born and nurtured. By his father he was faithfully instructed in Westminster Confession, and the Catechisms Larger and Shorter, and intelligently received them in mature years, and zealously, in his place, defended them. He was very careful in the religious instruction of his own family. The Sabbath afternoons and evenings were always thus em- ployed, unless providential circumstances prevented. The Shorter Catechism had to be repeated by every member of the family, who had arrived at years capable of so doing, on each Sabbath evening. And he was a very strict observer of the sacred hours of the Lord's day, permitting no secular work to be done on that day, but such as were of absolute necessity or mercy. It was no doubt his intelligent attachment to the doctrines of the Church, and his practical conform-
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ity to its precepts, that pointed him out to his brethren of the con- gregation as a suitable person to bear rule in the house of God.
But he was not only esteemed and honored in the Church, but also in civil life. He was three successive terms chosen to represent the - county of Mifflin in the State Legislature; and held the honorable office of associate judge of the county for a series of years.
Mr. KYLE will be long remembered in Mifflin county for his kind- ness as a citizen, and his irreproachable character as a man of God. He was a man of inquiring mind, sound and discriminating judgment. Resolute of will, and keen foresight, fitted him to act in all he under- took with great decision and energy of character, and with equal success. Whether in the private character of a citizen, or as a mem- ber of the Church; or in his public relations as an elder, legislator, or judge, his conscientious deportment and judicious counsels begat confidence, and commanded respect. He combined worldly industry with christian liberality, and was therefore permitted to see his chil- dren comfortably settled before his death. He died on the farm, and within a few rods of the place in which he was born, February 8, 1861, in the 80th year of his age.
As before intimated, Judge KYLE was familiar with the Scriptures, and the system of doctrine and form of government of the Presby- terian Church. His piety was humble and unassuming, leading him very often to pray in the language of the Publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner;" and to feel his chief encouragement to be, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." But the best proof of his consistent piety is that he lived to see all his family con- sistent professors of religion.
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