USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 19
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No member of the Presbytery was more esteemed than the pastor of the Kingston church. Recently the present pastor, Rev. Ferdinand Krug, in an anniversary sermon preached in the presence of Dr. Welles and the representatives of the congregation to which he so long ministered, said of his predecessor : "For twenty years
*The fifth ordination of the Presbytery.
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Mr. Welles continued to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, visit and comfort the mourning, and bury the dead. For twenty years he was the faithful spiritual guide of the people. He taught you, by precept and example, in all the work of the church. Upon many of you present this morning, his hand sprinkled the waters of baptism ; and later, you received from his hands the emblems of a Saviour's broken body and shed blood of your first communion. Many of you he has joined in the dearest and closest earthly relationship. We thank God for what he has been to this church, and we love him for what he is to us to-day."
To this merited testimony, Dr. N. G. Parke, who has been intimately associated with Dr. Welles during his whole ministerial life, adds ; " In the old Presbytery there was no brother more beloved, or that labored more conscientiously and faithfully than this Kingston pastor. He was a man of delicate health when he entered the ministry, and his health was not firm at any time during his pastorate ; but his labors were abundant and successful. His home is still among the people for whom he labored so long, and he is still active in promoting the kingdom of Christ, although unable longer to perform the duties of a pastor."
The Rev. Dr. S. C. Logan, who has only known Dr. Welles during the latter period of his pastorate at Kingston and since, bears like testimony to this esteemed brother. Dr. Welles had tact, as well as faithfulness, in the performance of his pastoral work. The writer, who was with him a few days during a protracted meeting, well remembers his ability to give conversation such a turn as would naturally and easily bring up that subject
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which the devoted pastor regards as the main subject to be dwelt upon in pastoral visits, viz., the relation of his parishioners to Christ and salvation, and their progress in the divine life, while present interests, privileges and pleasures are by no means to be ignored. On one of the occasions referred to, we had called on the family of the late Governor Hoyt. Mr. Hoyt was at home. At that time he was not a professor of religion, but an accom- plished gentleman.
The subject of conversation was suggested by the admirable location of the beautiful home we had entered, the delightful prospect enjoyed from it in almost every direction toward which the eye could be turned. In the midst of our expressions of mutual satisfaction, Mr. Welles, turning to the owner of that beautiful home, in that beautiful valley, said, in a natural, easy way : " Heaven is more beautiful than this." Even had there been nothing more said, which, according to my recol- lection, was not the case, there was in the pastor's utterance food for thought and wholesome incentive to right action as well as right thinking afforded.
Dr. Welles, like many of his co-presbyters, was blessed with a good wife, who not only cheered his home, but greatly helped his work. She had accompanied her husband when he came to Kingston.
They had been married Oct. 12, 1849, in Farming- ton, Me. The arrangements for this marriage, if " made in heaven," as doubtless was the case, were somewhat on the circumlocution order. Mrs. Welles' brother, the Rev. Francis D. Ladd, had been sent into Pennsylvania on an important mission,- first to work at Silver Lake, in Susquehanna Co., afterwards to the pastorate of the
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Penn Presbyterian church, Philadelphia, where his mem- ory is precious. His successful work was not long continued, for he fell at his post ere his sun had reached its meridian.
While at work at Silver Lake, his sister, Miss Ellen S. Ladd, visited him, and there Mr. Welles found her ; and we have seen what followed, making her, in the language of another, "his faithful and noble helpmate for nearly half a century." Of her, the same writer, after her unexpected death, which occurred recently, said : " To those who have known Mrs. Welles during her long residence in Wyoming Valley, no post mortem eulogy is necessary. Born of the best old Pilgrim stock, she honored her descent, traced in both the paternal and maternal lines from many well known old families, by a life-long attention to duty ; leaving behind her a bereaved husband, three children and an adopted daughter, all well known among us, and all of whom have through life illustrated, by their daily walk, the high standard of Christian ethics taught and exemplified by her whose loss they now deplore." How blessed such a memory!
Dr. Welles is still, by example and precept, holding forth the Word of Life ; and is a connecting link between the fathers we so greatly revere and their sons to whom we look with so much hope for the years to come.
XXVI.
THE REV. REUBEN POST LOWRIE.
A FTER the ordination of the Rev. H. H. Welles, June 12, 1851, it was not until March 22, 1854, that another occurred. This was the ordination of Mr. Lowrie. His connection with the Presbytery brought it into very close touch with the Foreign Missionary family, par excellence, of the Presbyterian church.
The Hon. Walter Lowrie, the father of the subject of this sketch, had, by his part in the establishment and management of our Board of Foreign Missions, done much to make it second only in our country to the great American Board of Foreign Missions, toward which Presbyterians had largely contributed, in men and money, for many years.
To take up this work and press. it forward, Mr. Lowrie had relinquished earthly honors and emoluments. In doing so he was honored by his church, in her ready and hearty co-operation with his wise and successful management of the Presbyterian Board, and by the distinguished labors and sacrifices of his own sons, two of whom early went forth courageously to the front, in the battle against the darkness of heathen lands. 3 One of
them was driven back by sickness and bereavement, but only to enter another department of the same life-saving work, in which he has long and faithfully toiled .*
*The Rev. Dr. John C. Lowrie, Senior Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
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Another sleeps in his watery grave, which he reached by the violence of those whom he sought to serve.
Another son of the same devoted sire was found among us in the Presbytery of Luzerne, doing good ser- vice for the Master. He was then carrying with him a copy of the divine word which had fallen from the hands of his martyred brother, Walter M. Lowrie, off the coast of China. He had written on its fly leaf, under an im- pression of the perils he had encountered from the ocean, in order to tell the Chinese of the way of life: "There shall be no more sea." The desire to take that book back to China and fill the place of the fallen in ex- pounding its heavenly messages, made Reuben Lowrie unwilling to remain where there were so many others to carry on the work of Christ in his native land. Therefore, soon after his ordination, he turned his face to the Orient, where, as a Missionary of the Cross, he labored faithfully and successfully, until he fell at his post, April 26th, 1860. His beloved wife, his son, Rev. James Walter Lowrie, and his daughter, and her husband, Dr. B. C. Atterbury, still represent the Lowrie family in missionary work in China. A short time ago, the writer enjoyed the oppor- tunity of becoming acquainted with Mrs. Reuben Lowrie, and her son, the Rev. J. Walter Lowrie, in Tacoma, Washington, and found them possessed of the same qualities of mind and heart as those of the beloved brother whom he had assisted in ordaining in 1854.
The following discriminating sketch from the now oldest member of the late Luzerne Presbytery is gladly given here instead of anything I might say. The Rev. N. G. Parke, D. D., writes : "The Rev. Reuben Post Lowrie, the fifth son of the Hon. Walter Lowrie, was
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given to the Chinese Mission in 1854. He died in Shanghai in 1860, but his widow and their son and daughter, still represent the missionary spirit of the family as efficient missionaries at Paoting fu, North China." This is quoted from Dr. F. F. Ellinwood's brief notice of Reuben P. Lowrie, which Dr. Parke supplements by saying : "It refers to one of the most devoted and promising young missionaries we have ever sent into the foreign field, whose early death brought sorrow to many who knew and loved him in Wyoming Valley.
" After graduating with honor in the University of New York City, and completing his studies in Princeton, New Jersey, he was chosen principal of the Institute at Wyoming that had just been established under the auspices of the old Presbytery of Luzerne. This position he occupied for two years. Wyoming is in the beautiful valley of the same name, some three miles south of Pitts- ton and six north of Wilkes-Barre, on the west side of the Susquehanna. While Mr. Lowrie was in charge of this institution, it was my privilege to meet him often. Our house was one of his homes while he was in this region, and we learned to love and esteem him as a finished scholar and earnest Christian man. In the school it was won- derful how speedily he won the hearts of the students and all the patrons of the institution. He was always cheer- ful, unassuming, entertaining and devoted to his work. He possessed the happy faculty of making himself at home, and those whom he met at ease, in the humblest cottage as well as in the home of luxury. Of his purpose in life, he said little to anyone, but his brethren in the Presbytery and the trustees of the Institute, knew that it was in his mind and heart when the way was clear to go as a
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missionary to China, where his brother, Walter M., perished. They hoped, however, that as he became acquainted with the demand there was in this home field for just such service as he was able to give, he would change his mind and consent to settle here. He was a very acceptable preacher and the young and growing church of Scranton, which was vacant, was exceedingly anxious to have him accept a call from it. The Rev. Dr. John Dorrance, Rev. T. P. Hunt and the Rev. J. D. Mitchell, (the re- tiring pastor), who had been chiefly instrumental in bring- ing him here, united with the Scranton people in urging him to accept their call. To my mind it appeared so clear that he should stay here, that I invited him to my study and talked the matter over with him seriously and earnestly. He heard me quietly, and then replied ten- derly, but decidedly, in substance : 'What you have said of the great need of laborers in this part of the Lord's vineyard is true. I admit it all and appreciate the kind feelings of the Scranton people, but you have Christian ministers, elders and laymen in this valley. The millions of China virtually have none to tell them of the way of life through Christ. I am interested in the work here, but I must go to China.'
" He believed that God had called him to go there, and he could not stay here. There was nothing more said. After a year spent in Spencer Academy, with the Choctaw Indians, and the way was clear for him to go to China, he came to Wilkes-Barre, and, in Dr. Dorrance's church, was ordained by the Presbytery of Luzerne as an evangelist.
" His father, the Hon. Walter Lowrie, of whom Dr. Ellenwood had recently written so pleasantly and truth-
PRIL 1, 1926
Louis Ranger, brother-in-law and sis- ter of the late Mr. Saks, and Mrs. and Miss Kay, also relatives. of the mer- chant.
Princeton Graduate 70 Years Is Record of Pastor, 91, To-day
Special to the New York Herald Tribune
TOWANDA, Pa., March 31 .- Seventy years out of college will be the record of Dr. John Stevens Stewart, of To- wanda, Princeton's oldest living gradu- ate, when he celebrates his ninety-first birthday here to-morrow. He was graduated from Princeton six years before the start of the Civil War, with the class of 1856. For nearly fifty years he was a Presbyterian minister, for nine at Greenwich, N. J., and for forty-from 1870 to 1910-at Towanda. He has been moderator of the Pres- bytery of Western New Jersey.
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Dr. Stewart, Princeton Graduate 70 Years, Dies
Death Visits Celebration of His 91st Birthday at Towanda; Had Been Pastor 40 Years
TOWANDA, Pa., April 1 (AP) .- Dr. John S. Stewart, oldest graduate of Princeton University, 'and one of the most widely known men in northern Pennsylvania, died to-day; on his ninety-first birthday, at his home here. He had been in failing health for several years. He graduated from Princeton seventy years ago, and had planned to celebrate that event to-day. Born in Jenkintown, Pa., he entered Princeton at the age of seventeen, and 'among other honors was class poet when he was graduated in 1856. Later he took a course in divinity at the Theologicala Seminary, being gradu- ated in 1861. He served churches at Silver Springs, Pa:, and Greenwich, N. J., coming from the latter place to the Presbyterian Church of Towanda, in 1870. At the time of his retirement here in September, 1910, after complet- ing forty years of services in this borough, he was the oldest · active member of the Lackawanna Presby- tery.
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fully, was present, and made a touching and impressive address. He expressed no regret at the decision of his son to go to China. On the other hand, he gave thanks. to the great Head of the church for calling him. He had already given two sons to this work and was more than willing to give another .*
" It is now more than forty years since the ordination of this brother, and in my mind's eye I can still see that venerable Christian father making this parting address to his dear boy who was leaving him to return no more.
" In the course of this memorable address, he spoke of a scene he had witnessed a few weeks before in New York. Two mothers had come on board the ship on which their daughters were about to sail for their fields of missionary labor in India. One of these mothers was simply inconsolable ; the other bore up so bravely and was so cheerful that some one made free to ask her, how she could be so calm and apparently happy under the circumstances ? With a sweet smile on her motherly face, she answered : ' Why should I not be happy ? I gave my child to the Lord before she was born, and now that God has called her to work for Him, what more could I ask for her ?
" How true it is that ' God's ways are not our ways ; nor his thoughts, our thoughts.' So far as we can see this dear brother was needed in China. His facility in ac- quiring language made it easy work for him to master the difficult language of the country to which he went. He was able to preach to the people there in their own lan- guage inside of a year after leaving America. By nature, culture and grace, and in every other way, so far as we
*He said if he had a hundred sons, he would be glad to have them all missionaries.
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could see, he was eminently fitted for the work into which he had put his whole heart. But He who called him to this work and fitted him for it, and in the morning of life called him from it, makes no mistakes. ' What He does we know not now, but shall know here- after. ' ''
No doubt Reuben P. Lowrie's brief connection with the Luzerne Presbytery, and his going as its repre- sentative into one of the most difficult and distant missionary fields, has done much for the cause in the Presbytery which sent him forth and followed him with its prayers.
XXVII.
THE REV. JOHN ARMSTRONG, D. D.
IN September, 1854, the writer was visiting friends in 1 Oxford, Pa., where he met his life-long friend, the Rev. John Armstrong, who had just returned from Mis- souri, where he had spent a year in missionary work. There were reasons why it did not seem to be his duty to return to Missouri. We invited him to take a seat in our carriage and accompany us to Hazleton, in our Presby- tery, where the church was vacant.
He accepted the invitation, and reaching that place on our way, he was introduced to Mr. Ario Pardee, an ardent friend and patron of the Presbyterian church there, for which, as we have already seen, he had built a house of worship. Arrangements were at once made for Mr. Armstrong to take hold of the general field of which Hazleton had now become the centre. The other points were Beaver Meadow and Weatherly. He continued in charge of this field for ten years, laboring with great dili- gence and success, enjoying the confidence and esteem of all his people.
Mr. A. was the eldest son of Mr. Andrew Armstrong, born March 11, 1825, at the home of his parents, near Oxford, Pa. John was from early childhood a diligent student and faithful Sabbath School scholar. While quite young he made a public profession of religion and united with the Oxford Presbyterian church.
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He soon determined to acquire a liberal education. To accomplish this he displayed great perseverance and heroism. After leaving the academy he went south to teach in order to earn money to meet college expenses. He walked from his home in Chester county, Pa., nearly all the way to the state of Georgia. After spending some time, with moderate success, he returned and entered the sophomore class in Lafayette College, where he spent one year, after which he accompanied the Rev. Dr. George Junkin to Washington College, Lexington, Va., and graduated under him from that institution ; and, in 1853, he graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary.
With more or less regularity Hazleton had been vis- ited and supplied with preaching by the Rev. Richard Webster, the Rev. Daniel Gaston, Rev. J. G. Moore and others, from 1836, and afterwards statedly by the Rev. David Harbison, the Rev. John Johnson and the Rev. John F. Baker, but there had not been the formal organi- zation of a church till 1854, about the time Mr. Baker left the field. When Mr. Armstrong entered it he found an organized church and a good house of worship.
The first elders in the Hazleton church were Robert Russell and Henry A. Mears, who were good and efficient officers.
Under Mr. Armstrong's ministry both the congrega- tion and Sabbath School rapidly increased. The church grew mainly by the reception of members on profession of faith.
The Beaver Meadow church, on the other hand, had became greatly weakened by the decline of business there, and the consequent removal of its members to other places until no elders were left, and, in 1859, the mem-
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bers were transferred to Hazleton and Weatherly. At this latter place a remarkable work of grace was experi- enced in 1857, which resulted in many conversions and the organization of a church consisting of sixty-one members.
The first elders of this church were Samuel Harleman and Esquire Styles. This field had, in addition to the service given by the ministers who radiated from Beaver Meadow and Hazleton, a part of the Rev. Joseph W. Porter's time while he supplied White Haven and its associated fields ; but at this time Mr. Armstrong had charge and continued to have till the fall of 1859, when the Rev. John Darrock was installed pastor of the Weath- erly church. He was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1829, but was graduated from Princeton College, N. J. He studied theology in the seminary of Columbia, S. C., and in Princeton Seminary. His ordination and installa- tion as pastor of the Weatherly church took place Novem- ber 15th, 1859. He was well equipped for his work.
This charge Mr. Darrock resigned in 1861, and went to Canada, where he became pastor at Lochiel; subse- quently he returned to Scotland. The church at Weath- erly was vacant for some time after Mr. Darrock left. Then it had stated supplies for two years. During a part of this time Mr. Armstrong looked after its interests again.
In the year 1866 there came the Rev. Daniel Der- uelle, another graduate of Princeton College and Semi- nary. He was born August 10th, 1838, in Washington county, Pa., where true blue Presbyterians are reared. The Presbytery ordained him as an Evangelist April 26, I866. Mr. Deruelle continued stated supply of the
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Weatherly church as long as it constituted a part of the Luzerne Presbytery, and the church grew under his minis- trations, having attained a membership of 102 at the time of the reunion. At the same time the Sabbath School numbered 180 members.
He was aggressive, extending his work to Beaver Meadow, Audenried and Jonesville. At Audenried a flourishing church was gathered, of which he was pastor for several years. He afterwards served several churches · in New Jersey and New England as pastor, or stated sup- ply ; subsequently he returned to Pennsylvania and was stated supply at South Bethlehem and Redington. He seems to have been an active and successful minister of Christ.
After provision had been made for the Weatherly part of Mr. Armstrong's field his whole time was demanded at Hazleton, and that church had a very encouraging growth, although he was never willing to be installed as its pastor. He and the writer, then his near- est ministerial neighbor, had from the beginning of their ministry an ardent desire to work in the great West, especially with the purpose of doing something to advance Christian education. They were both waiting for the opportunity to turn their faces toward the setting sun, notwithstanding their work at that time was pleasant and their people all that could be desired in kindness and cor- dial co-operation. The understanding with each other was, that the first to go was to prepare the way for his neighbor to follow. The way was opened in 1863 for the writer to enter upon a purely missionary work in the interior of Iowa. The next summer, through his recom- mendation and that of his brother, then pastor of the
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First Presbyterian church of Iowa City, an invitation was extended to Mr. Armstrong to take charge of the Musca- tine church, on the west bank of the Mississippi, and under the care of the Presbytery of Cedar. The engage- ment was for one year, with a view to permanent settle- ment if the arrangement should be mutually agreeable. This proved to be the case, and his former co-presbyter had the pleasure of delivering the charge to the pastor at his installation before the year expired.
Mr. Armstrong, before leaving Hazleton, anxious for the continued prosperity and usefulness of that church, and the cause of religion in his native state, took pains to prepare the way to have the pulpit of the Hazleton church supplied one Sabbath in the near future by the popular, able and enterprising young president of Lafay- ette College, in the interests of that Christian Institution. He had previously invited the Rev. Dr. W. C. Cattell, the President of the College, to visit Hazleton. And in expectation of that visit set forth to his congregation, before leaving, the wants and worth of the college, and the importance of adequately sustaining it.
Mr. Ario Pardee was the man in Hazleton who possessed the ability to generously aid the institution, if in his judgment it was proper to do so. This enterprising, successful and generous business man was highly esteemed by the retiring minister, who had known him intimately for ten years, and was sure that Mr. Pardee must be thoroughly convinced of the reasonable prospects, the value and stability of an institution before patronizing it. This prompted what he had done, and the desire that the president of the college, who could set forth the matter still more intelligently, should have the
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opportunity to do so. Mr. Pardee had through all these years shown his minister great respect. He was always in his place in his pew on the Sabbath, and was accustomed to say, that the kind of weather which would not hinder him from going to his office on a week day should not hinder him from going to church on the Sabbath; and as a further mark of his regard for his pastor, soon after the young minister was married, he had built a good and attractive parsonage for the church.
After Mr. Armstrong's departure, President Cattell appeared in Hazleton, and was cordially received. The Doctor did not know that Mr. Armstrong had been at work along his peculiar line, and the prudent, far-seeing business man did not divulge this fact, but received the new, independent, and doubtless more impassioned testimony of the interested advocate. Mr. Pardee said nothing at first, but on the next day wrote out a draft for President Cattell for $25,000, to aid the institution concerning which he had only recently known anything.
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