USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 22
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The next regular minister at Nanticoke was the Rev. William James Day. He began his ministerial career July, 1865. His labors, however, were not confined to the field which had engaged the attention of Mr. Weid- man, but included Ashley, nearer Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Day came directly from Princeton Theological Seminary, in which he had taken the full course. He was originally from Canada, born February 20th, 1840.
He entered upon his work with zeal, but, for some time, was not encouraged by a great increase in the
*Mr. Weidman was for some time, 1866-7, assistant minister of Rev. Dr. Backus, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of Baltimore, Md.
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church at Nanticoke. He resided in Ashley, to which place it is natural to suppose the greater part of his pas- toral labor would be given. Nanticoke, however, soon after the reunion was blessed with a revival which resulted in more than doubling its membership.
When Mr. Day came into the Presbytery in 1865, the Ashley or Coalville church had not been organized. The village being a suburb of Wilkes-Barre it was regarded as within the bounds of the Wilkes-Barre church. It had been a preaching place from 1834, and had a Sabbath School conducted by members of that church. W. C. Gildersleeve was its superintendent for many years ; and, as we have already seen, there was a house of worship erected there as early as 1844. Thus there had been a preparatory work done on that part of Mr. Day's field, which had not been equalled at Nanticoke. The growth of population, too, had been of late much more rapid. The formal organization, however, did not take place till January, 1866, some six months after Mr. Day's work began. But Dr. Dorrance especially, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Weidman, had given much attention to this coal town, in view of its increasing population. The demand for a sep- arate church had become imperative, in order properly to provide for Ashley and to relieve Wilkes-Barre, where the parent church was constantly needing and absorbing more and more care and labor.
At first the organization consisted of but 17 mem- bers, with Daniel Frederick, Robert H. Johnson and Rob- ert Brown as elders. The Baltimore Coal Company had donated suitable lots for a new and larger house of worship, which was constructed at the cost of $8,500, and dedicated February, 1869. The old church, too, was 21
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remodeled and made useful for Sabbath School purposes. When the Luzerne Presbytery was merged into the Presby- tery of Lackawanna, Ashville, or Coalville, church reported 85 members and 120 Sabbath School members. Mr. Day was formally installed pastor at Ashley in 1873. He was called from his prosperous work on the east side of the river to the Plymouth church, on the west side, in 1889.
Connected with the churches south of Wilkes-Barre we must notice the Shickshinny church, in Union town- ship, on the west bank of the Susquehanna. The first settlers in this township were from Connecticut, and were among those who were driven from their homes by the battle of Wyoming. There were also settlers who came in soon afterwards, and who secured their claims from the proprietors of Pennsylvania, which fact may have resulted in destroying harmony and hindering the co-operation nec- essary to the establishing of the institutions of religion. However that may have been, there was no Presbyterian church organized at Shickshinny till 1864, or during Mr. Weidman's mission. The information as to its constitu- tion and subsequent growth are not at hand. The name of the organization appears some times in the reports of the Presbytery, then again it is omitted for a time. Some time after Mr. Weidman left the general field, Solomon Clarke McElroy came to Shickshinny as stated supply of the church, in connection with teaching. He was a Canadian by birth, but had graduated from Union Col- lege, N. Y., and Princeton Seminary. Our Presbytery ordained him as an Evangelist in 1865. He continued till 1867.
The Rev. James S. Ferguson, who had been received
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from the Methodist church and seems to have resided for some years in Shickshinny, ministered to our church or adherents there for a time ; also at Harvey's Lake, where Messrs. George Hollenback and John Urquhart had built a comfortable house of worship and presented it to the Presbyterians.
After the reunion we find a sanctuary in 1871, cost- ing between four and five thousand dollars. The same year a pastor is installed, which implies that the church had assumed an aggressive attitude, and these movements were evidently kept up under their chosen leader, the Rev. William Bradford Darrach, from 1871 to 1876. At the end of that time we see a church of 47 members and a Sabbath School of IIO.
XXXIV.
THE HARVEY'S LAKE OR THE LEHMAN CHURCH.
T T HIS organization was constituted by the Presbytery December 23, 1860, with 15 members, and set in the report opposite the name of the Rev. James S. Fergu- son as its first minister. Until after the demise of the Presbytery it was reported from year to year, as the Har- vey's Lake church, and is supposed to have occupied the house of worship erected by Messrs. Hollenback and Urquhart. There seems, however, to have been no growth at the lake, and subsequently the place of worship most used was in Lehman township, where the Kingston church had long had some members, and looked after them. There another house of worship was erected, as more central for the general region.
Mr. Ferguson's term of service closed in 1863. His name, however, appears in the minutes of the General Assembly till 1870. Since that time we have been unable to trace him. At the time he left the church 20 members were reported, and one or two small contributions to our boards.
After Mr. Ferguson the Rev. Charles Edwin Van Allen, just from Princeton Seminary, supplied the church for a short time, but he never came into the Presbytery. The Rev. A. Harned, while in charge of the Presbyterial Institute, gave it some services during 1868 and 1869. In 1870 the church only reported 17 members.
XXXV.
THE WILKES-BARRE CHURCH AND ITS LATER PASTORS.
W E left this mother church of the Presbytery in I86I. It was a time of general gloom in our land, and to the church and Presbytery a time of sore bereavement; but even then, when turning our faces from this church, we had the satisfaction of knowing that it was an institution firmly established, in the care of loyal, intelligent guardians who would see that the important place made vacant by the death of its beloved pastor would be suitably filled. And as we moved from this, the original centre, we met everywhere within the circle of its Presbyterial influence the evidences of its ecclesiastical vitality and fruitfulness. If we have been observant and thoughtful, we return to the mother church with increased admiration for her past work, and with larger expectations of precious fruits from her later agencies and operations.
The pulpit of the Wilkes-Barre church became vacant on the 18th of April, 1861, the date of Dr. Dorrance's death. It was filled in less than three months. The changes caused by the civil war had just brought again to the north the Rev. Dr. A. A. Hodge from Virginia; and the Wilkes-Barre church at once invited him to its vacant pulpit. Archibald Alexander Hodge had always breathed
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a spiritual atmosphere; had early acquired the habit of close study, and enjoyed the benefit of teachers of ability, in addition to his superior home culture. He was born in Princeton, N. J., July, 1823, the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Charles and Mrs. Sarah (Bache) Hodge. In addition to private instruction, he was graduated from the College in his native town, and was, for a time, a tutor in the same. After his subsequent graduation from the Theological Seminary he took a post graduate course. During this last course, he was a very close student, as the writer knows, having occupied an adjoining room in the Seminary.
This distinguished man has been so prominently before the church in other important relations and positions that it is scarcely necessary, in giving a history of Luzerne Presbytery, to dwell on his characteristics as a man, and a very eminent minister, teacher and writer in our church. He was the son and successor of one of the greatest theologians of the present century. His own intellectual ability and attainments are proved by his writings. His devotion to Christianity and its divine Author is shown by his entering on the foreign mission- ary work in India, and by his subsequent tireless labors as a preacher, pastor, theological professor, original thinker and defender of the faith. When, after the failure of his wife's health, he was compelled to return to his native land he established a reputation as a successful pastor in several states, in all these pastorates gaining the love and confidence of his people. He occupied the highest chair, that of Theology, in two of our most prominent seminaries, the Western and Princeton. His popular lectures on theological subjects greatly added to his fame and
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extended his usefulness. He had more idiosyncrasies than his amiable and gifted father, but not less theological acumen, and a more forcible way of popularizing his teachings. His "Outlines of Theology" has been translated into various languages and is widely used both at home and abroad.
The removal of Dr. A. A. Hodge from Wilkes-Barre to fill a professorship in the Theological Seminary at Allegheny was greatly deplored by his congregation, which was capable of appreciating his rich and instructive sermons.
He was about three years connected with the Presbytery of Luzerne, leaving in 1864. After teaching didactic theology and at the same time serving two churches, viz., the First church at Pittsburg, 1865; then the North church of Alleghany, 1866 and '67, he was elected Associate Professor with his father in Princeton Seminary in 1877. After the death of Dr. Charles Hodge, June 1878, Dr. A. A. Hodge occupied the chair of Systematic Theology alone till his death, which took place Nov. 11, 1886, in the height of his usefulness, and was regarded as a public calamity.
He was married twice. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Bent, of Winchester, Va., whom he married June 17, 1847, just before embarking for India. She was the mother of his two daughters. Mrs. Hodge died in Allegheny, Sept. 28, 1868. He afterward married Mrs. Margaret (McLaren) Wood, who, with the daughters above mentioned, survived the husband and father.
His Alma Mater gave him the degree of D. D. in 1862, and he received the degree of L.L. D. from Woorster University in 1876.
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Soon after Dr. A. A. Hodge was called to Allegheny, the Rev. Samuel Bayard Dod became pastor of the Wilkes-Barre church in 1864. Mr. Dod was born in Princeton, N. J., Dec. 2, 1838, and was the son of the late Albert Baldwin Dod, D. D., who was Professor of Mathematics, and lecturer on Political Economy and Architecture in Princeton College. Dr. Dod was one of the most popular professors and accomplished scholars of our country, in his generation. His brilliant career terminated when he was only 48 years old. The writer well remembers the deep gloom and sorrow which were exhibited in Princeton, when, in 1845, the early and unexpected death of Prof. Dod was announced.
The new pastor, coming in 1864, brought with him very similar antecedents to those of the late pastor of the Wilkes-Barre church. He too bore the prestige of an honored name as well as the testimonials of the Princeton Institutions, the atmosphere of which he had so early and long breathed. He had enjoyed the advantages of foreign travel and study abroad. He had been ordained by the Presbytery of Hudson and installed pastor of the Monticello church, in June, 1862, which he resigned in order to accept the call of the Wilkes-Barre church, where he was installed in 1864.
Mr. Dod was a bright, active young man, a forcible speaker, a clear and logical reasoner, a fluent writer, and earnest and effective in his work as a pastor. But his work at Wilkes-Barre was cut short by the death of Mr. Edwin A. Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J., by whose will Mr. Dod was made one of the executors of his large estate, and the active and responsible agent in carrying out the wishes of Mr. Stevens in regard to the "Institute
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of Technology" provided for by him. It was a position of trust given him by his sister's husband which he could not see the way clear to decline ; but he could not take it and continue his work as the pastor of the First Presby- terian church of Wilkes-Barre, and asked the Presbytery to dissolve his pastoral relation. This was done in 1868. The planning for the building of the Institute and the arranging for the different departments of educational work that were to be conducted in it, devolved largely on Mr. Dod, and for this work he was eminently fitted, as results have shown.
The last pastor installed over the First Presbyterian church of Wilkes-Barre, is the younger brother of the Rev. Dr. A. A. Hodge, who had so recently filled the same position, and who was the eldest son of the renowned and beloved Princeton Theologian, to whose distinguished character and services we have already paid the tribute of reverence and praise which we could not but render with the necessary mention of his honored name. Coming as Francis Blanchard Hodge did, we scarcely need to speak of his antecedents. Of course he bore with him the sanction of all the Princeton Institu- tions, which he entered early and with which he lingered after graduating from the Seminary. He finally left that institution in 1863. His first pastoral charge was the old and important church of Oxford, Chester Co., Pa., where he was ordained, May 9th, 1863, by the Presbytery of New Castle.
Mr. Hodge's pastorate at Oxford continued till he was called to Wilkes-Barre in 1869. In Oxford he had succeeded his brother, Caspar Wistar Hodge, who was greatly loved by the Oxford people, as he deserved to be
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for his faithful ministrations, ample attainments and loving care of his flock. The Rev. F. B. Hodge filled his brother's place well in Oxford, and held the hearts of the people. The church prospered under his ministry, and reluctantly yielded him to Wilkes-Barre, where he entered upon what has proved to be a long pastorate. His entrance upon the Wilkes-Barre charge was during the last year of the existence of the Luzerne Presbytery, and while it is not our province to follow him in his work, it is pleasant to record the testimony of two of his co-presbyters, Drs. Parke and Logan, who agree in saying that his success has by no means fallen behind that of any of his predecessors. True, he has had good foundations on which to build.
Not long after the re-union in 1870, the Memorial church was organized to worship in the edifice erected by Mr. Calvin Wadhams to the memory of his children, who had been taken to the upper fold.
The Church of the Covenant, composed of colored people, had also been organized, but a short time ago it was dissolved by the Presbytery of Lackawanna.
In 1888 Westminster church was organized, and 1889, Grant street. These churches have grown and prospered without checking the growth of the mother church, only showing her vitality and fruitfulness.
The Rev. Winfield Scott Parsons, a minister long enrolled as a member of the Presbytery of Luzerne, although not connected with any of its churches, deserves notice among his brethren. He was regularly educated for the ministry, graduating from Lafayette College and Princeton Seminary. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Buffalo City, and supplied Lockport church, N. Y.,
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a short time. After that he seems to have devoted his life to educational work. He came into the Presbytery of Luzerne in 1856, and did good service in the educa- tional institutions of Wilkes-Barre, where he still resides.
XXXVI.
PORT CLINTON CHURCH.
T' HE village and community of Port Clinton had received more or less attention from Mr. Webster, and even before the organization of the Presbytery, but the services were not maintained with much regularity. No church was organized till 1860. During the previous year Mr. F. F. Kolb had been licensed with a view to his occupying that place with other points contiguous, and, in connection with his first year of missionary labor, the church was organized by the Presbytery. It reported 16 members the next year. The elders were Joseph Cork and John S. Rick. At the meeting of Presbytery to which this report was made Mr. Kolb was reported as an ordained minister. He had been ordained at Scranton January 19, 1861, as an evangelist, but was reported at the regular meeting of Presbytery as stated supply of the Port Clinton and the Scots church at "New Mines," which had been organized with 22 members and three elders, viz., Archibald Wallace, - McDonald and Robert Neilson. The former of these infant churches was made up of professing christians previously belonging to different denominations, In the Port Clinton church there does not seem to have been any growth. The Scots church, the second year, reported 32 members. At and around Port Clinton the stable population was Ger- man, and our church found little material from which to
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build. At New Mines the population was fluctuating, consequently while good was done during our occupancy of this field our work did not result in establishing churches, and after the first decade the effort was aban- doned. Mr. Kolb says: "I spent several years in hard work in my old mission field, and I was knocked down one Sabbath afternoon by a Catholic Irishman as I was going from one preaching place to the other." He spent one year in supplying Mahanoy City, probably 1865. Then he was called to a church in Northumberland Pres- bytery, where he was a successful pastor for seven years, after which he was called back to take pastoral charge of the Shenandoah church in the Presbytery of Lehigh, of which church he is still pastor.
The Shenandoah church was gathered through the labors of the Rev. William Edgar Honeyman, in this new coal town, December, 1866. Mr. Honeyman was a native of New Jersey, born July 26, 1839. He was grad- uated from the College and Seminary at Princeton, and ordained by the Presbytery of Rockaway, August, 1865. He spent the next year as stated supply in Rock- away, when, in 1866, he entered on his missionary work in Shenandoah. He was so far successful that the way was prepared for the Presbytery of Luzerne to organize a church March 17th, 1868, consisting of Mrs. Wm. E. Honeyman, Mrs. Wm. Grant, Mrs. John Costier, James Hutton, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Romage, Miss Robenia Westwood, Mrs. John A. Lewis, Mrs. Honeyman, Miss Hannah Jones and Mrs. Adam Leckil. James Sutton was elected ruling elder and regularly inducted into office. A short time before the organization of the church a house of worship had been dedicated, January 30th, 1868.
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This showed a commendable interest in spiritual things on the part of the new town. Mr. Honeyman says of his work in this place : "I went to Shenandoah in Novem- ber, 1866, and began work in a school house. Only one Presbyterian was there, and in 1867 we began to build a church. An organization was formed with Mr. James Hutton as elder, and in February and March there was a revival that really gave us church life. I superintended the Sabbath School, with Mr. James Hutton assistant superintendent." This church has always maintained a flourishing Sabbath School.
The early erected house of worship was burned in 1874, and the records of the church up to that date were also consumed ; but we learn from Mr. Albert Hoover, at present clerk of the session, that after Mr. Honeyman and Mr. Hutton, Mr. Robert A. Glover served as Sabbath School Superintendent, and the school is now under the care of the clerk of the session, and is flourishing. Although we may not follow the church minutely beyond the limit assigned to this history, it is perhaps proper to say that the loss this congregation sustained in the burn- ing of its house of worship has been made up to it by the erection of a more substantial structure.
It seems a matter for regret that Mr. Honeyman should, for any reason, have had to leave Shenandoah, where he had succeeded in securing such ample appliances for a still more successful work. The foundations seem to have been well laid. The little church from the be- ginning has realized that it does not exist simply for itself, and it is therefore found possessed of a missionary spirit, regarding the divine command : "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations."
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From Shenandoah Mr. Honeyman went to Oakland church in the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia. The successor of Mr. Honeyman was the Rev. John C. Clyde, a Lafayette College and Princeton Seminary man, who had been a Missionary in Iowa, where he was ordained by the Chariton Presbytery, in which he did good service for a time, but his most important work has been as a pastor in New Jersey. The Shenandoah church has had a steady growth up to this time, and has exerted a salutary influence in the community where it was planted.
XXXVII.
THE MAHANOY CITY CHURCH.
T HIS church was gathered during the last decade of the Presbytery, in the new coal town on the Mahanoy mountain, about ten miles south of Hazleton, and not far from Shenandoah. It is probable that the Rev. Wm. Thomson did at least a part of the pioneer work which resulted in gathering this congregation, while he ministered to the Tamaqua church. The organization is first reported to Presbytery in the spring of 1863, as an organized church of nineteen members. Of this number seventeen had been received on certificate and two on profession, making the original number of charter mem- bers, and was reported as supplied by Mr. Thompson.
The church building was erected and dedicated in the fall of 1862. The writer, in company with the late Dr. John Armstrong, then minister at Hazleton, was present at the dedication of this church. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. DeWitt Talmage.
After the charge of the new church passed out of Mr. Thompson's hands in 1864, Mr. Kolb seems to have had charge of it, in connection with Port Clinton and the Scots' church, as appears from the report in 1865, when the membership is given at thirty-three.
In 1866 the Rev. William Henry Dinsmore took charge of this church as its regularly installed pastor. He was born in Green Co., Pa., May 31, 1833 ; graduated
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from Princeton College in 1857, and from the Theo- logical Seminary in 1860. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Nov. 19, 1861. He served as stated supply and pastor of the Silvers' Spring, Pa., church from 1860-65, and became pastor at Mahanoy, 1866. During the first three years of this pastorate, the growth of the church was remarkable, considering the size of the place. In 1867 it reported fifty-seven additions, all but eight on profession of faith, and subsequently forty-eight, with but nine by certificate.
After this, almost every one in the congregation had been led to Christ. Removals afterward-especially the departure of the family of Elder George F. Wiggans to Philadelphia - was a serious loss to the congregation. Mr. Wiggans was one of the men who exerted a great and wholesome influence.
Mr. Dinsmore was released from his pastoral charge in 1869, and became pastor at Stroudsburg, where he continued till 1876, when he was called to Deerfield, N. J., where ended his earthly ministry, May 26, 1877.
The next pastor of the Mahanoy church was the Rev. Alexander Miller Woods. He was installed 1870, and therefore among the last, if not the very last, inducted into the pastorate by the Luzerne Presbytery ; and it seems to have been no misfit; for, notwithstanding the constant change and fluctuation to which such towns are liable, he is still in his place. He also is a graduate of the Princeton Institutions. He came into Presbytery with much the same antecedents as Dr. Belville, and has been a good member of the new Presbytery.
XXXVIII.
THE UPPER LEHIGH CHURCH.
T HE Eckley church with its out-stations, Clifton, Jeddo, and Ebervale, owed much, during the existence of the Luzerne Presbytery, to the Council Ridge Coal Company's assistance. But as the members of that honorable and efficient company removed to other homes and engaged in other enterprises, the church at Eckley was greatly weakened; yet it maintained its existence for some time after the Presbytery ceased to be.
We find the Presbyterian element of the company and the members of the Eckley church, in their new connections, establishing or helping other enterprises of our church. This is especially true of the managers of the old Council Ridge Company, as seen at the above named coal town, where among the proprietors the Presbyterian element was largely represented. Soon after movements towards the development of the coal interest were begun at this place, measures were taken to build up another Presbyterian church, while, at the same time, encouragement was also given in assisting other denomi- nations in building up their interests. Judge Leisenring in particular, who had done so much to inaugurate and stimulate church work at Eckley, was no less interested in the religious wants of this new town, where his skill as its engineer has done so much to make its material arrange- ments minister to the comfort and esthetical enjoyment
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of those who, in the employment of the coal company, must make the town their home and the home of their wives and children. This company, and many others in the general coal region of Pennsylvania-let it be said to their honor-have been interested in the moral and spiritual atmosphere of the theaters of their business operations.
Preaching of the gospel was provided for, as soon as possible. The services of the minister in Conyngham Valley, the Rev. John Johnson, were secured for a part of the time; and on June 21, 1869, a committee of the Presbytery of Luzerne organized a church in Upper Lehigh, with Mr. Parker Price its ruling elder. The report to the meeting of Presbytery, April, 1870, gives ten as the number of members. It was indeed a child of our Presbytery; but we have only to do with its birth; it must henceforth be identified with another foster mother, viz., the Lehigh Presbytery. We are glad to know the infant grew, and soon enjoyed all the functions of a well appointed church.
XXXIX.
THE CHURCH OF MEHOOPANY CREEK AND
THE REV. EDWIN BRONSON.
T HIS church first appears on the minutes of the General
Assembly in 1856, having reported 19 members, 16 of whom were received by certificate and three on confession of faith.
The Rev. Edwin Bronson supplied the Mehoopany church till the year 1859, after which the Rev. Wm. E. Holmes had charge of the Mission for several years, in connection with Northmoreland. Mr. Bronson, how- ever, resided at Mehoopany for some years, without charge. In 1862, he is reported as residing at Laporte in the bounds of the Presbytery of Susquehanna ; the next year he was stated supply of the church of Laporte, to which he continued to minister till 1864. After this he does not seem to have had charge of any church; and in 1874 his name was placed on the list of honorably retired ministers. He died at Arnot, Pa., Nov. 3, 1893, aged ninety-three.
XL.
THE PLAINS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
T' HIS church, about midway between Pittston and Wilkes-Barre, on the east side of the Susquehanna, was the last organized by the Presbytery of Luzerne; nor is the writer able to determine whether it is the child or the grandchild of the Wilkes-Barre church. We learn, how- ever, that the pastor of the older church officiated as chairman of the committee which constituted it in the name of the Presbytery, by the organization of twelve Presbyterians into the First Presbyterian church of Plains. The ruling elders were James Allen and James Steele.
The Rev. Alexander C. Smith, received from the Presbytery of New York, became the first pastor of the new church and he seems to have been encouraged in his work .*
*Whatever uncertainty there may have been about the maternity of the Plains church, there could be none as to that of another church constituted soon after the reunion of 1870, viz., the West Pittston church, organized by the Presbytery of Lackawanna in 1871. It seems proper to mention this organization in order properly to exhibit the fruitfulness of the First church of Pittston from which it sprung. Other evidence has before appeared attesting the same fact.
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XLI.
GNADENHUTTEN CHURCH.
T THIS is the name of a Mission established by the Moravians about the middle of the last century, some miles south of Mauch Chunk, Pa.
It was for a time successful; quite a village had been gathered, consisting of the missionaries and the Indians, many of whom had been converted to Christianity. But in 1755, with no warning of approaching danger, an assault was made on the peaceful village by the savage Indians. Seven of the missionaries were slain, the hamlet burned, and the Christian Indians widely scattered, never to return. This gave the place a kind of sacred memory, and it was long the desire of Presbyterians to maintain work on that hallowed ground. Our Presbytery in 1859 organized the church of Gnadenhutten, but their number was few, only nine members, and the population sparse and scattered, so, in the absence of a settled minister, who could not be provided, there was no prospect of growth; therefore, in 1862, Presbytery dissolved the church and dismissed its members to Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill churches.
CONCLUSION.
N 1870 the Luzerne Presbytery reported 32 churches, and this list does not embrace some of the churches which had appeared on its roll and which reappear afterward on the rolls of Lackawanna and Lehigh Presby- teries. Twenty-seven years before, this Presbytery was constituted by the General Assembly, with eleven churches, and two of these were set back to the Presbytery of Northumberland by the same body. It is also true that several additional churches, which had been over- looked, were subsequently added to the eleven. I
The Assembly named eight ministers, one licentiate for the new Presbytery, with four candidates. The Presbytery reports, in 1870, twenty-nine ministers, one licentiate and two candidates. The church membership at the time of the organization was nine hundred and seventy-seven. In 1870 there were reported three thousand, three hundred and forty-six communicants, and four thousand, one hundred and fifty Sabbath School members.
The value of church property, at the beginning, consisting of churches, manses and school buildings belonging to the congregations entering into the new Presbytery, was in the neighborhood of from $10,000 to $15,000. And the annual contributions of its churches for 1843, $488.00 though in this reported sum, congre- gational expenses were probably not included.
The annual contributions, as reported in 1870, were
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$60,690. The Presbytery has organized twenty-seven churches, and ordained to the ministry, twenty-nine. Fifteen were licensed to preach the gospel.
No case of doctrinal difference ever demanded Presbyterial attention during the twenty-seven years of its existence. No case of appeal from the action of the sessions comes to the mind of the writer; nor does he recollect of any protest against the action of this Presby- tery ever being entered in the records of its proceedings.
Truly the brethren of Luzerne Presbytery dwelt together in love and unity, co-operating cordially with each other in every good work. The beloved wife of Richard Webster, whom his brethren regarded as the father of the Presbytery, is still with us, and Rev. Dr. N. G. Parke, honored by the service of more than half a century's pastorate of one church, and whose work in the Presbytery began before the termination of the first year of its existence, is here too, as deeply interested as ever in the prosecution of that work for which the Presbytery of Luzerne is no longer responsible. He doubtless can look backward with abounding gratitude, and forward, with assuring hope, for the success of that cause which now is largely entrusted to other hands, so far as human agency is concerned.
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