USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 18
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An important part of the field to which Mr. Osmond was assigned by the Presbytery was Abington, seven miles north-east of Newton, a village settled by intelligent people; the seat of Madison Academy, where there were a number of Presbyterians of whom one, the head of a family, was an elder in the Wilkes-Barre church. The
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young minister was kindly welcomed by all the Presby- terians and very courteously treated by the ministers and members of the Baptist and Methodist congregations, who generously opened their churches for his services, many of them attending upon his ministry. In addition to these two important places, the missionary, during his stay at Newton, occupied eight school houses and a German Reformed church in different and more remote places in his general field, most of them once a month, on Sabbath afternoons ; preaching three times on Sabbath and frequently on week evenings. This enabled him to reach twice as many as would have heard him had he confined himself to the central church.
Oct. 24, 1848, Mr. Osmond married Miss Margaret Francina, daughter of Robert Murdagh, a life long elder in the Oxford church, Chester Co., Pa. Elder Peter Richards furnished the minister and his wife a home in a part of his new house, where they lived comfortably two years. This marriage brought an efficient helper into the Newton congregation.
Mr. Osmond was ordained and installed pastor of the Newton church, May 4, 1849.
From the beginning of his ministry till the spring of 1850 there had been a gradual increase in the congre- gation, over the whole field, and a special work of grace, at Newton and in other parts, including Abington.
It was understood from the beginning that at least one person at Abington, Mr. Leonard Bachelder, a graduate of Amherst College, had been affiliated with the New School branch of the Presbyterian church, with which the Presbytery of Montrose was connected, but he had most cordially co-operated with the Luzerne missionary. In
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April, 1850, however, the field was visited by the Rev. Burr Baldwin, who was at the time acting as the mission- ary of Montrose Presbytery, and, at a meeting which had been called by him at Abington, and which Mr. Osmond attended at his invitation, the organization of a New School Presbyterian church, then and there, was insisted upon by Mr. Baldwin. Although the attendance was very slim, and notwithstanding Mr. Osmond proposed that definite action should be postponed until the members of Presbyterian churches residing in the vicinity could be allowed an opportunity of voting on the matter and of intelligently deciding for themselves the question of Presbyterial jurisdiction, *- still Mr. Baldwin pro- ceeded with the accomplishment of his purpose, refusing even at that time, to put the matter to a vote of those present. Five persons agreed to enter the organization, and one of these, Israel Brundage, a young student in Madison Academy, was ordained and installed a ruling elder. This young man left the place in a few months, and subsequently became a useful minister in the New School branch of the Presbyterian church.
In the course of a few days, thirteen Presbyterians of Abington signed a petition for the organization of a Presbyterian church in that town to be connected with the Presbytery of Luzerne, according to their natural and geographical relations, and there were others who favored the movement.
A conference to settle the matter was soon afterwards arranged by the two Presbyteries. The Rev. Dr.
*As was urged, at the above meeting, by Mr. Osmond, Luzerne Presby- tery was entitled to the ground by the terms of the original division of territory, as stipulated when the Montrose Presbytery was constituted from a part of Susquehanna, and by many years of occupancy. See Chap, V, Susquehanna Presbytery.
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Roland of Honesdale, the Rev. Dr. Riley, and the Hon. Judge Jessup, were understood to have been originally appointed as representatives of Montrose, and Drs. Dorrance, Mitchell and Parke, of Luzerne. The con- ference was held at Abington, but was not attended by the Montrose brethren first appointed. Those who did attend from that Presbytery assumed that they now had a church in Abington, and could not alienate it, but by its own vote; that the only thing for the Presbyterians who preferred connection with Luzerne Presbytery to do, was to come into that church and outvote the existing members. So questionable an expedient did not, of course, find favor, and nothing to change the existing state of things was agreed upon.
Even at the New School organization and in direct connection with it, those who had entered into it requested Mr. Osmond to go on with his labors in Abington and supply the newly organized church. This, under the circumstances, he did not feel that he could consistently do, nor did he regard it as his duty to continue his services with even the larger number who desired to remain in connection with the Luzerne Presbytery. He therefore asked his Presbytery to allow him to give up work in that part of his legitimate field, simply because the conditions into which our operations in Abington had been unhappily precipitated, by the divisive course pursued, had utterly destroyed the hope of usefulness ; and a wide and destitute field still remained for him outside of Abington. Other brethren were for a time sent to fill our appointments, among them the Rev. Reuben P. Lowrie, of blessed memory, whose connection with Luzerne Presbytery we are yet to consider. The
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Presbytery gradually came to the conclusion that it was better to relinquish its rights than contend with brethren whom it loved. Some of the Presbyterians who adhered to their former preferences made their home with churches outside of Abington, and others fell in with the new organization.
In the fall of 1849 the Newton church enjoyed a gra- cious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The whole commu- nity was stirred ; many souls were born into the kingdom, and the membership of the little church in which Mr. O. had found about 40 active members at the beginning of his work, was increased to double of its original number. Meetings were protracted for a considerable time, and the young pastor was, during their progress, greatly aided by brethren of the Presbytery, especially by his neighboring pastors-Parke, Porter and Lane. Mr. Hunt had, in the preceding year, frequently visited and assisted the minis- ter at Newton. As a result of the revival, not only was the Presbyterian church strengthened, but its fruits caused the organization, or re-organization, of a Baptist church. In the second year of his pastorate the congregation built their minister a house, on land adjoining the church given by Elder Collum. It was not a costly building, but sufficiently spacious and comely for the general condition of things.
The next year after the erection of the parsonage a school house was built on the opposite side of the church, and Newton Hall Academy was started. This enterprise is thought to have originated in an effort made by Mrs. Osmond to which she herself attached little importance, to aid some young people in the study of grammar.
The pastor was made principal of the academy. The
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earnings of the institution and the aid offered by our Board of Education were all used in employing the very best teacher that could be secured. During the six years of Mr. O's principalship his assistant was the Rev. W. C. Davis, a graduate of Lafayette College and Princeton The - ological Seminary, who made teaching his life-work.
This Christian school did good work, not only for its pupils but also by raising the standard of instruction in the public schools of the community. It is to be regret- ted that it was not kept up longer. The pastor acted as principal, and spent a part of every school day in taking some part in its exercises and conducting some of his ad- vanced classes, and he regards the work done in this insti- tution as among the most profitable of his pastoral serv- ices.
Early in Mr. Osmond's pastorate Horace Collum, William C. Ayers and Lewis Litts were added to the session. The people of the Newton congregation were thoughtful of their minister's comfort, kindly supplement- ing their subscriptions by many tokens of their regard, which greatly aided in his support. The Donation Day in the Newton congregation was to them a great day, and it showed the largeness of their hearts when their means were considered.
One of the original elders, Peter Richards, who had been an earnest, efficient worker in the church, died Sep- tember, 1850. This was a serious loss. The other orig- inal elder, Peter Cornelius, was a great sufferer from asthma, and was for many years unable to do any kind of work. The more recently elected elders were active and deeply interested in the prosperity of the church. There was, however, but little increase in the population, and,
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while there was, in view of the existing condition of things, an encouraging increase of membership, and times of quickening were enjoyed, yet the church did not rapidly increase. It did indeed become more thoroughly Presby - terian, and therefore more entirely assimilated to the great body of which it was a part. Its improved spirit and influence are evinced by the growing usefulness of its younger members in the subsequent history of the church in which they were born, and in the activities of other local churches with which the lots of some of them were afterwards cast as officers and members.
Mr. Osmond resigned his pastorate in the summer of 1857, and, by the appointment of Presbytery, took charge of mission work at Eckley and White Haven.
The Rev. William E. Holmes, a member of the Mo- kawk Presbytery, became stated supply of the Newton church. Previous to coming from the Synod of Albany, Mr. Holmes had been for a time pastor of a Congrega- tional church, but just where it was located has not been learned. The academy was not opened for pupils during his ministry, which continued till 1859, when we find him reported as stated supply of Northmoreland and Me- hoopany churches, with his home at Ransom, Pa. This relation he sustained till 1867, when his name no longer appears on the roll of the General Assembly.
After Mr. Holmes' term of service in the Newton church expired, we find it in charge of the Rev. Joseph Bruce Adams, who was born in Chester county, Pa., in 1801. He graduated from Jefferson College and Prince- ton Theological Seminary. For a time he was a mis- sionary in the Huntington Presbytery, ordained as an Evangelist October 6th, 1830. Mr. Adams' ministry
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was in the south, the central west and interior of Pennsyl- vania before coming to Newton church in 1859. The early part of his ministry as stated supply at Newton was attended with encouraging success, but during its latter part he experienced some hindrance in his work, owing to the excitement occasioned by the civil war.
In 1863 he retired from the Newton charge and re- sided in Easton, where he acted as an agent of the "U. S. Christian Commission " until his earthly labors were ended by his death, which occurred July 5, 1865. He left a widow and one son, who also studied for the ministry, but does not seem to have entered fully upon the work, although he had passed through an extended course of study. This son, Joseph Bruce Williams Adams, died July 4th, 1872, at Princeton, New Jersey. The father was a man of energy and possessed of a mis- sionary spirit, as is evident from his career. He is under- stood to have been an acceptable preacher, and withal, patriotic.
The Rev. John H. Sargent next became the stated supply of the Newton church. He was born in Massa- chusetts February 28, 1828, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1852, and from Princeton Theological Sem- inary in 1856. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia April 3rd, 1856, where his father, Winthrop Sargent, then lived and filled the office of "Superintend- ent of Colportage and Business Correspondent" of the Board of Publication, continuing in that position from 1854-70.
Mr. Sargent was ordained by the Presbytery of Erie, June 16th, 1861, as an evangelist. In the meantime he had done evangelistic work in Maryland and North
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Carolina. After his ordination he spent some time as stated supply of the Perry church in Pennsylvania. While engaged with this church he secured the organization of the Oil City Presbyterian church, which has become large and important.
He became stated supply of the Newton church in 1864, and continued in charge of it till '69. During his ministry there he seems to have prospered, as the church reported its largest membership at that time. After leav- ing Newton he supplied Osceola church in Bradford county one year. In 1870 he took charge of the Phillips- burg church, which he continued to supply till 1878, and from which point he extended his work to other places, where he gathered other churches. From the last date till 1880, Mr. Sargent was unable to labor, but on re- covering he took charge of the church of Peru, N. Y., which he continued to serve till 1888. Two years later . he died of apoplexy at Fort Worth, Staten Island. Throughout his entire ministry, and indeed in his college course, he was greatly hindered by the want of vigorous health. By those who knew him intimately he is spoken of as " an earnest and devout Christian, and always un- tiring in his labors, although so much burdened by bodily weakness." He married, June 2nd, 1858, Miss Frances Eugenia Hall, of Schenectady, N. Y., who survived him. When the Presbytery of Luzerne ceased to be, the Rev. Ashbel Green Harned, of whom we have already written, was in charge of the Newton church. He afterwards was regularly installed its pastor.
When Mr. Osmond resigned his pastoral charge of Newton, his Presbytery appointed him, at the request of the White Haven and Eckley churches, their temporary
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supply. He entered upon the duties of the position, November, 1857.
There were choice spirits in both these enrolled companies of Presbyterian believers. They were local churches, though at this time neither of them had a session, yet were they fully competent to provide for this necessity to orderly rule and representation.
Neither session nor pastor, which are both creatures of the enrolled body of believers, are absolutely essential to the existence of a church, but certainly are to its com- pleteness. The more recent of the two churches of which we are speaking was the first to attain that completeness, although as yet without a local home or habitation.
The Eckley church, like the church of Scranton, was then enrolled by the name of an ex-president, Fillmore ; but when the new town wanted a post office, it found, as the Scranton people had, that the name they would honor was already appropriated within the Commonwealth, and another must be selected for the place. The choice was that of a popular young man, a son of the late Judge Cox, the proprietor from whom the Council Ridge Coal Com- pany had leased, for twenty-five years, the 1,500 acres of land upon which it had built the town and works. This ultimately changed the name of the church, which was located on the top of Buck Mountain, about seven miles from White Haven, on the Lehigh, at the head of slack water navigation.
The gentlemen composing the Council Ridge Coal Company, were high-toned Christian men, who conducted their extensive business with an evident regard for the highest good of all assisting them in their operations, as well as for their own individual gains. These gentlemen
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were Richard Sharpe, an Episcopalian ; John Leisenring, Presbyterian ; Francis Weise, Lutheran ; Asa Foster, Epis- copalian, and Mr. Belford, Presbyterian. Of course, in building a town to accommodate from 800 to 1,000 peo- ple, upon leased property, the buildings must be as inex- pensive as possible, but they were well appointed for com- fort and neatness. As soon as families came in, a convenient school house was erected and a school was opened by the company, without waiting for the operation of the school law. This school building was at once used for preaching services and a union Sabbath School, and while this Sabbath School continued, the president of the company, Mr. Sharpe, was the superintendent. Before a dollar was received from the sale of coal in the market, Mr. Leisenring, the architect of the town, had secured from our Presbytery, the services of the Rev. J. W. Por- ter, for a part of his time, and Mr. Sharpe also secured the services of the Rev. Mr. Russell of the Episcopal church, who supplied the other part of the time, and this arrangement was long continued in perfect harmony. The same ministers supplied their respective churches at White Haven, alternating as to time.
Soon after Mr. Osmond came to the field, Hugh Hyndman and Peter Cunningham were inducted into the office of ruling elders at Eckley, and they "ruled well." It was not until August 31st, 1859, that Mr. Joseph Bloom was ordained and installed at White Haven. That church had been without a session since 1853. Mr. Os- mond accepted the invitation of these two churches to continue his labors, but not seeing the way clear to be installed at White Haven, as the people desired, remained till August of 1863 pastor in everything but the name.
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The field was not extensive at either of the two central points, but was important, and with the cordial co-opera- tion received, and the very generous treatment of his people extended to him and his family, it was an exceed- ingly pleasant charge ; all classes were in perfect harmony.
In addition to the regular Sabbath preaching at both churches, preaching was regularly maintained at Morrison, midway between White Haven and Eckley, at Jeddo and Ebervale, towards Hazleton, and occasionally at the Tan- nery, down the Lehigh.
The question with reference to providing houses of worship was early raised. The company generously pro- posed to erect a building at its own expense, but the Pres- byterian element thought it best that each church organi- zation should own its own place of worship. With this the company generously acquiesced and lent its aid in securing lots and warranty deeds for the same.
The Presbyterian church was a very neat and com- fortable building, having a basement for Sabbath School and prayer meeting purposes.
The growth at Eckley was encouraging, seasons of spiritual refreshment were enjoyed, and the Sabbath school was well attended and interesting. Two young ladies from the Wyoming church, who were engaged at Eckley as teachers, viz., Miss Susan C. Hunt and Miss Hattie Ensign, rendered in the early days of the Sabbath School valuable assistance in its operations.
Increase of membership at White Haven was not rapid, yet additions were received from time to time. The church building was very inconvenient as to location. During Mr. Osmond's term of service more eligible lots were selected, but the erection of a new house of worship
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was somewhat delayed by the fact that, in the summer of 1862 there was in the Lehigh river an unprecedented freshet which utterly carried away all the dams of the slack water canal, and for a time the business of the place was arrested. This, however, ultimately proved a great blessing by making it an important railroad town.
The Sabbath School in White Haven has not, like the church, been subject to frequent change of manage- ment. Mr. E. P. Morris has had the superintendency since before Mr. Osmond's time, and they have always had a good school.
Since 1863 Mr. Osmond has been engaged in Home Mission work in Iowa, North Dakota, and on the Pacific coast. In all these varied fields of labor the Master has given him some measure of success, some of which has been due to generous aid from friends in his former east- ern charges. In none of his pastorates has he been the successor of a regularly installed predecessor. . He now resides in Tacoma, Washington, as a retired minister, though still, as strength and opportunity permit, engaged in the service of the Master.
There were in Eckley and White Haven many Ger- man families who were entirely ignorant of our language, and for whose religious instruction no provision had been made by German speaking churches, To meet the wants of this class the services of Mr. Albert John Wintereck (born in Treves, Prussia, April 24, 1832, but educated in Lafayette College and Princeton Seminary) were obtained. He was to preach in the Presbyterian churches of the above named places and do general missionary work in these communities. He was ordained as an Evan- gelist June 18, 1862. He continued in the service
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assigned him two years, reaching many of his own nation- ality with the gospel which he preached, but no church was organized. He was subsequently pastor of German churches in New Jersey and New York till 1877, when he seems to have passed over to the German Evangelical church.
Before leaving the Eckley and White Haven field Mr. Osmond had the satisfaction of seeing his place sup- plied by the Rev. James McMurtree Salmon, born Jan. 3Ist, 1825, in the adjoining county of Columbia, a grad- uate of Lafayette College and student of Princeton Sem- inary, and ordained by the Presbytery of Northumberland May 11th, 1859. He had supplied for a time the two Columbia county churches, Berwick and Briar Creek, which had been connected with the Presbytery of Luzerne, and from 1859 to the time he came to the churches of Eckley and White Haven (August, '63), he had been their regular pastor. He resided at White Haven in his new field, in which he remained as long as the Luzerne Presbytery continued. After these churches became a part of the Lehigh Presbytery Mr. Salmon was installed pastor at White Haven. He was well liked in both parts of his field.
It is due to him to state that before he entered upon his work Eckley had been somewhat weakened by the removal of influential members, and, subsequently, still . more so by changes in business management ; and at White Haven the interruption of business, caused by the great flood of 1862, had delayed the contemplated change of site for the church and the erection of a more commo- dious and better constructed house of worship. This, however, was accomplished in 1869, and was the begin-
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ning of a new and more prosperous era for the Presby- terian church. Thus, much was accomplished, especially in the way of preparatory work. The change was seen at once in the increased attendance at the Sabbath school, and ultimately in the enlarged membership of the church, though not in a marked degree for several years.
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XXV.
REV. HENRY HUNTER WELLES
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PASTOR OF THE KINGSTON CHURCH.
M R. WELLES, although born in Wyalusing, in Brad- ford county, was closely affiliated with the people of Wyoming valley. His mother was a Hollenback. We have already met him in the Wilkes-Barre Academy and church. Like Dr. Dorrance, he belonged to the general community on which his life labors were bestowed, and in which he is still vitally interested. His birth occurred September 15th, 1824. His college course, which was pursued at Princeton, he completed in 1844, before his twentieth year. On leaving college he seems to have had some idea of becoming a disciple of Blackstone, but the impulse did not last long, for in a little more than a year after his graduation, we saw him matriculated in Prince- ton Seminary and sitting at the feet of those incomparable teachers of sacred science, A. A. Alexander, Samuel Miller, Charles Hodge and J. Addison Alexander.
There, among his associates, he was loved and im- plicitly trusted, but, much to the regret of his numerous friends in Princeton and elsewhere, toward the close of his term of study in the seminary he was missed, and his place in class and conference was vacant. His health had failed, and for a time it was doubtful whether he would be
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able to enter fully upon ministerial work. His heart, however, still prompted him in that direction, and we find him doing missionary work in Meshoppen and elsewhere. After the retirement of Mr. Porter he became stated sup- ply of the Kingston church, having been licensed by the Susquehanna Presbytery, and subsequently ordained and installed as pastor of that church, June 12th, 1851, by the Presbytery of Luzerne .* Mr. Welles was the seventh pas- tor installed at Kingston. The Rev. Messrs. Corss and Ogden were not fully inducted into the pastoral office there. The territorial limits of the Kingston congrega- tion had, as we have seen, been greatly restricted. The population in the rural parts devoted to agriculture, dur- ing the existence of the Luzerne Presbytery, diminished rather than increased, in consequence of the introduction of new machinery in farming operations. There was but little to promote the growth of the village of Kingston for a long time except the excellent and flourishing Wyoming Seminary, and its prosperity tended rather to the prosperity of another than the Presbyterian church. Consequently, while Dr. Welles had a compact and reli- able congregation, its growth was not rapid. In this field our pastor did faithful and good work and saw a reason- able enlargement. He enjoyed the love and confidence of his people and the cordial esteem of the community.
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