USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 17
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But owing to the fact that their services were conducted in a language with which but few of the Presbyterians of the First church were acquainted, there could not be the close intercourse, in worship and opportunities for social influence, necessary to rapid affiliation and co-operation. Yet these churches have grown, and seem to have been loyal to the Presbytery, which is the more to be commended in view of the fact that the earlier membership had been trained in somewhat different usages from those which prevail among us. Their ministers, although well educated men, had been instructed in, and accustomed to, modes of administration and habits of thought in many respects dissimilar to ours. These German churches have done a good work for our denomination, and prepared the way for a much greater future work in which they and we alike will find lasting benefits, both in church and state.
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The first of these German churches was constituted January 28, 1856,* and formally taken under the care of the Presbytery of Luzerne, on the 25th of the following June. It consisted of 60 members.
The first minister was the Rev. Herman Veith, who was probably received from some German church. He was with the church from its organization, Jan., 1856, till March, 1858. He seems to have been dismissed to the Presbytery of Hudson and to have taken charge of the Jeffersonville German church. At the termination of Mr. Veith's ministry the church reports 156 members.
The next minister was the Rev. Thomas Gradman, whose name does not appear in the minutes of the General Assembly at the time. He was in Scranton about a year.
March 1, 1859, the Rev. Charles David Rosenthal, from the Presbytery of Passaic, and pastor of the German church of Patterson, N. J., entered upon the charge of the German church of Scranton, and was its regular pastor till October, 1864. Mr. Rosenthal was regular in his attendance at all the meetings of Presbytery and seemed cordially to adopt our system of doctrine and polity. When he left his charge in Scranton, the number of members reported was 249, with 210 in the Sabbath School.
In the fall of 1864, soon after Mr. Rosenthal ceased to be the pastor of the German church, the Rev. William C. Wunderlich became pastor. Mr. Rosenthal remained on the roll of Presbytery for several years, and was reported as stated supply at White's Corners, N. Y. Subsequently he became pastor of the Clarkestown
*Perhaps by the Presbytery of Luzerne.
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German church in the Presbytery of New York. This pastorate he retained till he was relieved by his death, which took place at Naunt, N. Y., May 4, 1874. The Clarkstown church was at that time under the care of the Presbytery of Hudson. This church was a small one, but it seems to have been loyal to the Boards of our church under Mr. Rosenthal's ministry.
The Rev. Wm. C. Wunderlich, who became pastor of the Scranton German church, does not appear on our roll before that time.
The reports from his church were at first meagre, but in the course of a few years they became quite encouraging, and at the time the Presbytery was merged in other Presbyteries the church reported a membership of 594, and a Sabbath School of 260 members, with contributions to nearly all our Boards. They raised for congregational purposes, for the year ending April, 1870, $2,535, and received into the church that year, 53 on profession, and 35 by certificate, a total of 86.
The congregation had erected a house of worship on Hickory street, between Cedar and Pittston streets, at a cost of $3500. The building was formally dedicated Nov. 6, 1859. Previous to this, the church, had occupied the Odd Fellows' Hall, the former meeting place of the First church.
Mr. Wunderlich in 1885 dedicated a new house of worship at far greater cost than that of the old building, and placed a chime of bells on it. He retained his position as pastor till 1888. Having made a visit to his native land and returned, he still resides in Scranton.
The Petersburg German Presbyterian church, so named from the part of the "larger Scranton " in which
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it was located, was organized January, 1858. Its original members were: George N. and Peter Engel, Conrad Otto, John M. Thrier, John Feries, Jacob Saun, Charles Smidt, Fred Teufel, John Braumann, Henry Wengel, Henry Schulz, Joseph Faber, William Vetgel and Franz Zigler. The women's names are not given, but we can- not conceive of a Christian church within the limits of civilization without women. The Pennsylvania Coal Company gave this new enterprise a lot for the erection of a house of worship, which was completed at a cost of $2,500, and dedicated to the worship of God, July 25, 1869. One month before this congregation had been formally taken under the care of the Presbytery of Lu- zerne it had a membership of 55. Thus it is seen that there was a place for the women and children. More- over, we learn that it had a flourishing Sabbath School of 75 pupils, with Mr. Conrad Otto as its superintendent.
It was from the first under the pastoral care of the ministers of the First German church, viz: the Revs. Messrs. Gradman, Rosenthal, and Wunderlich, who di- vided their services with the newer organization. The Petersburg church was located on Centre street. Previous to the erection of the church building, it availed itself of the use of the school house in that part of the city. As there is no separate report of this church in the minutes of the General Assembly during the existence of the Lu- zerne Presbytery, its membership and other things must have been included in the report of the First German church.
Another German church was organized in Archbald in the early part of 1862, and reported (indefinitely), with the Rev. Bernhard Sickel as its pastor. This
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enterprise, no doubt, was due to influences emanating from Scranton. In 1864 a more definite report is sent to Presbytery, which gives the membership of the church as 72, and shows the existence of a small Sabbath School, with $615 raised toward self-support and miscellaneous matters ; also small contributions raised for four of our boards. During this year the pastoral relation between Mr. Sickel and the Archbald church was dissolved and the congregation lost its house of worship by fire. In 1865 the church is reported vacant. In 1866 the Rev. J. E. Lang was ordained and installed pastor of the Arch- bald . church, and continued in that relation till 1874. This church did not grow much at first. Like all mining congregations it was constantly liable to changes. More- over, during its history, it not only lost its house of worship, but its first pastor, Mr. Sickel, fell under the censure of his Presbytery, which was obliged to divest him of his ministerial office in 1869. The people, with the aid of Christian friends outside, rebuilt their house of worship, securing a much more substantial and beau- tiful one.
In 1870, when it was taken charge of by the new Presbytery, it reported 147 members. The Presbytery of Luzerne had not many German churches, for while it would have regarded it cruel to withhold the gospel from those incapable of receiving it in any other than their native tongue, it was deemed best to secure, at the earliest possible time, unity of language, thought and worship, in order to the highest temporal and spiritual advantages of all interested parties.
XXIII.
BEAVER MEADOW AND WHITE HAVEN CHURCHES.
T THE Rev. David Harbison, who was born, reared and educated in the north of Ireland, came into the bounds of the Luzerne Presbytery in the early part of 1848, bearing testimonials of licensure for the ministry in the Presbyterian church of his native land. His uncle, Thomas Harrison, Esq., a prominent and influential citizen residing near White Haven, on the Lehigh, al- though not at that time a member of the Presbyterian church, yet introduced his nephew to the congregation at White Haven, with which he worshiped, and which was then vacant. It was part of the Beaver Meadow field. The young man was an acceptable preacher, of pre- possessing manners and good reputation, and was there- fore at once taken hold of by the Presbytery and the then vacant mission field. He was instructed to give half his time to White Haven, where as yet no church had been organized. But, as we have seen in an earlier part of this history, the Rev. Darwin Cook had done mission- ary work in connection with Conyngham Valley soon after the organization of the Presbytery in 1843, giving the place one Sabbath a month. Subsequently, the Rev. James G. Moore was directed, in 1845, to give this field the same proportion of time, which he continued to do
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till 1848, or until a short time before the coming of Mr. Harbison, who took up Mr. Moore's work in his whole field, but gave a larger part of his time to White Haven. Already the business at Beaver Meadow was beginning to decline, and changes were taking place which were carry- ing away the membership of the church there, and so weakening it. Notwithstanding, Mr. Harbison's ministry was understood to be very acceptable to that people.
Though there were but few Presbyterians in White Haven, a proposal to erect a house of worship was favor- ably entertained. I will here quote from a historical state- ment furnished by the present popular pastor of the White Haven church :* "A subscription was made which warranted the commencement of the building in the summer of 1849. The corner stone was laid by the Rev. Richard Webster. In the winter the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered by the Rev. John Dorrance, and the Presbytery appointed a committee to organize a church." Work being demanded at Hazleton, nearer Beaver Meadow, Mr. Harbison seems to have been relieved of the care of White Haven early in 1850; and on the 21st day of May of the same year, Mr. Harbison was inducted formally into the pastorate of the Beaver Meadow church, having been solemnly ordained to the full work of the ministry.
In the meantime, the Rev. Samuel A. Gayley was appointed stated supply of White Haven and the regions round about. Mr. Harbison was the only member of the Committee of Presbytery able to attend at the time appointed for the organization of the White Haven church, Dec. 6, 1850, and he had the satisfaction of *Rev. Ebenezer Flack.
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enrolling and organizing twenty-three members into the First Presbyterian Church of White Haven. Of these, the present pastor informs us, three are still alive and honored members, viz., Mrs. A. F. Peters, Mrs. E. P. Morris and Mrs. Bradley Childs. Mr. Harbison ordained and installed Mr. William Davis ruling elder.
The missionary work at White Haven had passed into good hands when Mr. Gayley took hold of it. He, like Mr. Harbison, was born in Ireland, his birth occurring at Castleberg, Dec. 11, 1822. But, coming to this country early in life, he was educated here; first in his uncle's excellent classical school near Wilmington, Delaware, afterward in Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating from the latter institu- tion in 1850. He only remained a short time at White Haven, as in 1851 he received and accepted a call to Lockhaven, Pa. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Northumberland May 28th of the same year. He continued pastor of the Lockhaven church till 1862, when he became pastor of the Lower West Nottingham church in Maryland, a church of which Gilbert Tenent had been pastor, and, in later years, the Rev. Dr. George Burrowes and the Rev. A. A. Hodge, D. D. Here Dr. Samuel A. Gayley continued an honorable, useful and every way fortunate career till 1893. On his voluntary retirement from the church, he was made its pastor emeritus, and resides in Wayne, Pa.
During Dr. Gayley's term of service at White Haven, the Sabbath School was organized, and has, from the beginning to the present time, been well managed, and a source of great good to the church and the community.
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In the summer of 1851, Mr. James Scott, just from Princeton Seminary, served the same field that had been vacated by Mr. Gayley. He also was from the North of Ireland, Armagh county, but was a graduate of the University of Glasgow, Scotland. He was subsequently ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and became pastor of the church at Homesburg, Pa., June 6th, 1854. He continued there until 1861, when he was released from that charge in order to his acceptance of a call to White Haven. He was a man of fine culture and of excellent Christian spirit.
In the summer of 1851, the house of worship which had been projected before the organization of the church was formally dedicated. The service was conducted by the Rev. Richard Webster, who from time to time, as in this instance, rejoiced to see the little churches, for which he had travailed in birth, comfortably sheltered and without any lingering encumbrance of debt. This building was beautifully situated for scenical effects, but, unfortunately, was too far from the centre of population.
The next minister was the Rev. John F. Baker, whose work has been already noticed. When Mr. Baker was called to the Scranton church in the spring of 1854, the Rev. Joseph Wray Porter, a licentiate of the Presby- tery, was appointed stated supply, with a field somewhat modified ; for, instead of Beaver Meadow and Hazleton, Weatherly, Clifton and Filmore were associated with White Haven.
Mr. Porter was born in Colerain, Ireland, but was educated in this country. He was, in fact, one of Mr. Webster's boys. He graduated from Lafayette College, and was a student from Princeton Seminary.
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White Haven was his radiating point. Mr. Baker had resided in Beaver Meadow. Mr. Porter's other preaching places were unorganized, and the organization at the centre was by no means strong. The elder whom Mr. Harbison had ordained had removed from the place ; therefore the young minister had little trained assistance, except from the Sabbath School workers. Nevertheless all who knew of Mr. Porter's work recognized his earnestness, zeal and fidelity.
Under his ministry at the new coal town of Filmore, the way was prepared for the more perfect establishment of a Presbyterian church. Mr, Porter was appointed by Presbytery, at the request of Mr. John Leisenring, a leading member of the Council Ridge Coal Company, to preach at Filmore, and, at the petition of the people of that place, a committee was appointed by the Presbytery, Sept., 1856, to organize a church there, but, owing to some hindrance, the committee, which consisted of the Rev. T. P. Hunt, Rev. John Armstrong, Rev. John Johnson and G. W. Smith, did not perform its duty till near the close of the year, and did not secure the election of elders. The following persons were enrolled, viz., John Leisenring, Mrs. John Leisenring, Mrs. Sallie P. Sharpe, Hugh Hyndman, Mrs. Hugh Hyndman, Mrs. Rebecca and Isabella Bayn, John Cuningham and Mrs. Cuningham, James Black, Thomas Ellis, Samuel Wiesley, Robert McConnahan, Miss Martha McClelland and Miss Mary McClelland. In this general field, Mr. Porter did a laborious and useful work. After leaving White Haven, August, 1857, he was ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, March 19, 1860, and installed pastor over the churches of Charleston and
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Pheonixville, having previously supplied them for a time. This charge he retained, with a good record, till 1876. He then became pastor of the Fifth Presby- terian Church of Trenton, N. J., with which he spent two years. From 1881-83, he served the Stanhope church, in the same state. His last charge was the Woodside church of Newark, N. J. He died at Newark, July 16, 1890. Mr. Porter married Miss Rebecca Stern, of Easton, Pa. She survived him, with one son and one daughter.
The Rev. David Harbison, after relinquishing the White Haven portion of his original field, continued to serve the Beaver Meadow church, Hazleton and other adjacent points. No church, up to this time, nor until several years later, was organized at Hazleton, although it had received attention from Mr. Webster himself. Messrs. Gaston and Moore had maintained regular services there, once in two weeks. The business of the place was increasing rapidly, especially under the vigorous and wise management of Ario Pardee and Company. Hazleton had, therefore, become the more important part of Mr. Harbison's field of operations. The services were conducted in the public school house.
Mr. Harbison continued to occupy his general field, acceptably to the several communities, till the spring of 1852, when he became pastor of the United churches of Donegal and Ligonier in the Presbytery of Blairsville ; then Ebensburg and New Salem, of the same Presbytery, in the order named. In the year 1875, he returned to Lehigh Presbytery, and became pastor of the Bridge street church of Catasauqua, which position he still occupies. Mr. Harbison married during the earlier part of his residence in the interior of Pennsylvania.
XXIV.
NEWTON, WHITE HAVEN AND ECKLEY. THE REV. JONATHAN OSMOND.
A BOUT the time the Rev. David Harbison landed in this country, an invitation from the Presbytery of Luzerne, written by the Rev. Richard Webster, reached Jonathan Osmond to visit Beaver Meadow and spend two Sabbaths in the church there. Mr. Osmond was then in the middle of his senior year in Princeton Theological Seminary. He had not, at that time, applied to his Presbytery for license, therefore he felt that he could not, without great loss, be absent so long from his classes, nor did he like to go into the field till he was duly licensed. However, he consulted with Dr. Archibald Alexander, who thought his objections well founded. Therefore, he respectfully declined Mr. Webster's invitation, and, as we have seen, Mr. Harbison was introduced into the Beaver Meadow field and Mr. Osmond was informed that the Presbytery would offer him another missionary field when he was ready to enter upon it. After graduation in the spring of 1848, and having been regularly licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, Mr. Osmond left his home near Oxford, Pa., on horseback, to visit the field desig- nated by the Presbytery of Luzerne. It proved to be that part of Mr. Parke's field situated north of Pittston, and originally embraced what is now included in the townships of Newton, North and South Abington, Ransom in
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Lackawanna county, and Falls in Wyoming. This ground was actually occupied, with nothing to hinder the oc- cupancy of Scott, Benton and Greenfield in Lackawanna county. On this territory, the only organized church was Fallstown, which was afterwards changed by the Presby- tery to Newton, because of the changes in township lines which ultimately located the home of the church in the centre of Newton township.
This was a country church embracing many families in the prime of life. A short time before, a young minister by the name of Stevens had been sent into this congregation, but was seen soon after making his way from the community. A member of the Presbytery wanted to know why he had abandoned the field, and was answered, "Oh, there are so many children." It was still true when Mr. O. reached the Newton congregation, that there were many children, but this, to his mind, only gave the more promise of a lively condition of things, and while it would call for no little effort on their behalf, he could not regard this, and similar providential indica- tions pointing to the necessity for much work, as furnish- ing ground of excuse for turning away from a specially difficult field, though at first he was tempted to do so. While the church had long been organized, it had no completed house of worship, no Sabbath School, and had had only partial and somewhat irregular services. Dr. Parke had, for the past four years, supplied this part of his extensive parish as frequently as possible, but he could not be very often in the remoter parts of his field, or continue long when he visited them. However, the people at Newton had become acquainted with and greatly attached to the Mountain Missionary, and were not particularly
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anxious for a change. They, however, treated the young minister kindly, for they were a good, honest people, and really desired the upbuilding of the spiritual house. Their hands had been set to work in building a house of worship.
One of the first members of the church with which the new minister became acquainted was, at the time of introduction, on the top of the rising structure destined to be the much needed sanctuary which Mr. Parke had stirred up the people to begin to build. Peter Dershimer, the builder, was soon inducted into the eldership, which, from the organization of the church, had consisted of Peter Corselius and Peter Richards. Thus its first en- largement by the addition of a third Peter, making it eminently Petrine, brought in a new element, the Ger- man, added to the Holland or Jersey of the other two. They were all different, and all good men. Their children became significant factors in church work, and still are.
Before the completion of the Presbyterian house of worship on the beautiful site selected for it, facing the conspicuous mountain on the east, our Methodist brethren had begun a church edifice, just beside the old red school house which had long served for all sorts of public gatherings. In 1848 worship was held by all denomina- tions in this new, but unfinished structure.
The attendance was good as to numbers, but in meeting with a people who for nearly a score of years had only worshiped in school houses or other secular build- ings, the impression on the mind of the young minister in the delivery of his first sermon from the text " For to me to live is Christ," was not inspiring. There was something wanting. There seemed to be no such spiritual atmosphere as he had been accustomed to in the church
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of his childhood, where all the families were gathered in their respective pews, and waited reverently the words of the pastor, the Rev. Ebenezer Dickey, D. D., and after- wards the eloquent utterances of his son, the Rev. John M. Dickey, D. D., the founder of Lincoln University, or the mild but touching words of the Rev. Robert P. Du- bois, while a student and teacher for a long time in the Academy at New London, *- all this, to say nothing of the atmosphere of Princeton's worshiping assemblies, suggested to the young preacher on " Brushy Ridge " a startling contrast.
New adjustments must be made, the conditions and wants of pioneer communities, especially of the younger members of such communities, must be considered, and the fact faced that these conditions are to them normal, while to the older people, it might be, that only after gradual, and, at the first, reluctant yielding of what had once been preferred, they had fallen into the free and easy habits of pioneer life. A new element in such society cannot revolutionize it at once, and whenever attempting to do so destroys its ability to revolutionize it at all. Here, as in all moral uplifting, the new element must lead, not drive. This is a lesson that must be learned by would-be reformers before progress in the right direction is ordinarily secured.
The community for which the Newton church was designed had, for many years after their first settlements, a laborious struggle in subduing the wilderness and providing themselves with homes. From necessity their first buildings were small and inconvenient. During the
*A lineal successor of the school taught by the celebrated Dr. Francis Allison, among the first really Presbyterian schools in this country under strictly ecclesiastical control-that of the Synod of Philadelphia, 1774. See Dr. Charles Hodge's history of the Presbyterian church, p. 262.
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time Mr. Parke looked after their spiritual wants, a new and better market opened up for the productions of their farms. This had stimulated greater industry and thrift, in which they had been led and encouraged by the greater enterprise and sobriety of some more recent settlers. In consequence of this state of things, very many of the farmers had become able to build. themselves larger and better homes. But before they could, to any considerable extent, refurnish their homes, the call was made for building houses of worship. They regarded this call, and occupied their new homes without ad- ditional furniture.
In the summer of 1848, the neat new Presbyterian church was dedicated to God, free from debt. > It was a glad day to both people and minister. Appropriate and impressive services were conducted by members of the Presbytery.
A Sabbath School was at once organized. The new minister had his Bible class. The school was from the beginning well attended and useful. The church was greatly aided in their building enterprise by Mr. George Cory, who was made superintendent of the Sabbath School. Although not a member of the Presbyterian church, he was regarded as a brother beloved. While he did business in the community, he continued his friendly assistance.
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