USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > History of the Presbytery of Washington : including a brief account of the planting of the Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania and parts adjacent, with sketches of pioneer ministers and ruling elders ; also sketches of later ministers and ruling elders > Part 19
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WILLIAM WALLACE was enrolled as an Elder attending meet- ings of Ohio Presbytery in 1803. His name appears frequently in records of Ohio and Washington Presbyteries up to a short time before his death, which occurred November 23, 1845. In his last will and testament, after making bequests to relatives, he states : " Because, in the good providence of Almighty God, all my sisters and near kindred are abundantly supplied with the good things of this present life, I will and direct that all the remainder of my property, real and personal, at my decease, be sold by my executors, and by them disposed of as herein directed, that it may be for the extension of the kingdom and glory of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The bequests made were as follows : Western Theological Seminary, $500; Foreign Missions (Assembly's Board), $500; Board of Missions for Support of Gospel in this country, $400; American Tract Society, $400; Board of Education, $400 ; American Bible Society, $400; "Support of Gospel in American Colonies on Western coast of Africa," $400. Balance to be divided equally between Washington and Jefferson Colleges, to educate persons for the ministry. Elder William Wallace, of Chartiers Township, is not to be confounded with William Wallace who represented the county several times in the Legislature. The latter lived in Somerset Township.
SAMUEL DONAHEY, son of Joseph and Mary (Alexander) Don- ahey, was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, May 17, 1787, and brought by his parents to this country August, 1790. He was married in early manhood to Anna, daughter of William Reed, Esq., and sister of Rev. Messrs. John, Samuel and William Reed ; was ordained a Ruling Elder in 1840, and died December 25th of the same year. He was a man of integrity and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens.
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DECEASED RULING ELDERS.
JOHN DINSMORE, Sr., was born July 14, 1779, at Miller's Run, Allegheny County, Pa .; died July 7, 1858, on the farm where he lived and served his generation sixty-four years. He was an Elder forty-one years, and was a man of good mind, well-versed in the Scriptures and practical divinity ; of great force and strength of character, thoroughly faithful to his pastor and his church. Judicious and punctual as an office-bearer, systematic and conscientious in his benevolence, and much given to prayer and devout meditation.
JAMES TAGGART was born in 1782; died July 13, 1863, in the eighty-first year of his age and the twenty-fourth of his Elder- ship. He was a man of blameless life, unpretentious, never put- ting himself forward; was a great reader, very intelligent in the Scriptures, and was devoutly faithful in the discharge of his official duties.
ANDREW HERRON. Born in 1781 ; died November 20, 1869, aged eighty-eight years ; served thirty years as an Elder. He was a guileless man, of strict integrity and uprightness of character. A lover of Jesus, of His church and of His people, he died as he lived, a Christian's death. He was the father of Rev. Robert Herron, D.D., deceased.
PARKER REED. Born in 1810; died March 27, IS71, in the sixty-first year of his age; was a native of Washington County, Pa. He made a profession of religion in early life, under the ministry of Dr. Anderson ; and was an Elder thirty-one years. " He was a man of great integrity of character, and performed the duties of his sphere, whether as a citizen, a professed Christian, or an officer in the church, with remarkable fidelity." His end was peace.
WILLIAM DONAHEY, son of Samuel and Anna (Reed) Donahey, was born near Taylorstown, Washington County, Pa., January 17, 1816; was married, December, 1843, to Mary, daughter of Martin Ely, Elder in East Buffalo Church ; was ordained an Elder in Upper Buffalo Church in 1853, and served until his death, August 14, 1884, in his sixty-ninth year. Mr. Donahey was a devout and exemplary follower of Christ, honoring God in his household and faithful as a Ruling Elder. Two of his sons
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(Rev. Martin L., of Ohio, and Rev. Joseph A., of Waynesburg, Pa.) are Presbyterian ministers.
WEST ALEXANDER (THREE RIDGES).
JOHN McPHERRIN was one of the first bench of elders at Three Ridges, and represented that church in Presbytery more fre- quently than any of that first session ; was present six times from 1792 to 1807. Mr. McPherrin died about the year 1815, having made bequest of over $2000 to the Trustees of Jefferson College, the interest to be applied in aid of candidates for the gospel ministry.
. GEORGE LEE was at Presbytery in 1803, and as late as 18IS. The characteristics of this elder were spiritual-mindedness and an all-absorbing desire for the salvation of others. It was a rule of his life never to be in the company of others without speaking to them personally on the subject of religion. It was never done obtrusively or offensively, but so wisely and tenderly that he never gave offence. At that time the country was almost an unbroken forest, and on Sabbath morning, on his way to church, he would turn aside into a thicket for a season of prayer; and as his voice, broken with sobs, went out in cries for the influence of the Spirit on the preacher, the preaching, and the people, many a one would stop to receive an impression that fitted him for the house of God and led to a blessing.
GEORGE SUTHERLAND was at Presbytery eight times from 1802 to ISI8. He was generally called " little George Sutherland," to distinguish him from another man of the same name. He was quick, always ready, the theologian and Bible student of the Session. It is said he could express himself with the clearness and force of a theological professor. His creed was summed up in the " Five points of Calvinism," and if his pastor or any one else occupying the pulpit seemed to deviate from this straightest of rules, he was duly informed of it before he left the church, and set right.
JOHN McDONALD was born March 15, 1788, and died Decem- ber 11, 1868, in the eighty-first year of his age; was married in 1817, to Margaret Byers. He was elected an elder in 1828, and served in this office for forty years. He was also
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Superintendent of the Sabbath-school for more than twenty years. " His special gift was that of prayer. His godly life was an orna- ment to religion. He loved the Saviour and the church ; but in prayer he excelled. He would take the congregation in the arms of his faith and lay them down at the mercy-seat for a blessing. His words were so simple and scriptural ; his-tones so simple, childlike and tender, it could only have been the Spirit making intercession. Deeply moved himself, he as deeply moved others. He was pre-eminently a man of prayer." He has two sons in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church -- Rev. George McDonald, of Upper Ten-Mile, and Rev. John McC. McDonald, Ulysses, Kansas.
FORKS OF WHEELING.
JOHN FARIS was the eldest son of William Faris (g. v.). He was brought from Ireland in childhood. He came to the West from Berkley County, Va., at a very early date. His name was first enrolled in presbytery in 1799. His wife was Agnes Stewart, daughter of Robert Stewart, of Covenanter de- scent. Their home was near Roney's Point. Mr. Faris died in 1838. Several of his sons became elders in the Western States. Among his descendants are the following ministers : Rev. John M. Faris, of Anna, Ill., Rev. W. W. Faris, D.D., of Anna, Ill., who has a son now studying for the ministry, Rev. WV. B. Faris, deceased, whose daughter is the wife of Dr. E. W. Alexander, missionary in Hamadan, Persia, and Rev. S. C. Faris, of Richmond, O. Three of these are grandsons. Rev. Dr. W. W. Faris, son of Rev. J. M. a great-grandson.
ADAM FARIS, son of William Faris, was born near Martins- burg, Va., November 6, 1763. He was married to Mary Find- lay, January 7, 1794. He was a farmer and on coming west purchased lands on Wheeling Creek, Ohio County, Va. He was made an elder in Forks of Wheeling Church not later than 1802. He represented his district several terms in the Virginia House of Representatives, traveling to and from Richmond on horse back. In 1829 he was Vice-President of a temperance society of which his pastor, Dr. Hervey, was President. A son, David, was made an elder in Forks of Wheeling Church in 1838. A
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daughter, Mary, was married to Josiah Brown, also made an elder in the same church in 1838. Another daughter, Dorothea, became the wife of Rev. David Hervey. The last years of Mr. Faris' life were spent with these at their home in Brooke County. He died July 6, 1841, in his seventy-eighth year and was buried at Forks of Wheeling Church. Mr. A. Faris Hervey ruling elder in the church of Wellsburg, is a grandson.
WEST LIBERTY, FORMERLY SHORT CREEK. 7
JOHN WAYT. This name appears on the roll of Presbytery in 1794. Tradition assigns him to both the Forks of Wheeling and Short Creek. The " History of the Panhandle " published in 1879, contains the following concerning him : " John Wayt emi- grated to Ohio County, Va., near the year 1780, at the age of twenty-five. He was accompanied by two brothers and two sisters. Mr. Wayt was educated for a priest in the Catholic Church of England, and upon his rejection of their creed was compelled to flee. He became here a member of the Presby- terian Church and subsequently an elder. He was married soon after his arrival to Mary Peyatt. He became a leading man among the early settlers. He died in 1822, and his remains were interred in the cemetery of the Stone Church near Elm Grove."
MATTHEW ANDERSON was present as a ruling elder in the Presbytery of Ohio as early as 1796. In 1807 he removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he resided until his death. His wife was Isabella Hughes, sister of Rev. James Hughes, pastor of Short Creek and Lower Buffalo. She survived her husband and died in the period between 1846-52. Two of their sons entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, -- Rev. James H. Anderson who died after a brief service in North Western Ohio, and Rev. David S. Anderson of the Presbytery of Maumee, who died April 2, 1886. Rev. Oscar A. Hills, D.D., of Wooster, Ohio, is a grandson of Matthew Anderson, by his daughter Sarah Anderson, who was born at Short Creck July 1, 1805.
WILLIAM FARIS was born in Ireland, from which he emigrated to Virginia not later than 1770. He was an elder in Back Creek Church, Berkley County, Va., of which Rev. Hugh Vance
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was pastor. Not long after the Revolutionary War closed, he removed to Ohio County, Virginia, settling on Magraw's Run, in the bounds of Short Creek Church. His farm is still held by some of his descendants. He had two sons, John and Adam, who were elders in Forks of Wheeling Church. His descend- ants to the fourth and fifth generation have been numerous and have mostly held to the ancestral faith. One of them writes, " I think it safe to presume that of the descendants of Elder Wm. Faris, not less than forty persons have been either minis- ters or elders, or wives of ministers or elders in the Presbyter- ian Church. Among the descendants I can recall, are Blayneys, Yates, Potters, Gastons, Maxwells, Finleys, Herveys, etc., in all of which have appeared elders and in several of them minis- ters." Mr. Faris died in 1818, aged eighty-four. He was buried at Forks of Wheeling.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY was one of the first Board of Elders in Short Creek Church. His name first appears on the roll of Pres- bytery in 1800. He was chosen Treasurer of the Board of Trust at its erection by the Synod of Pittsburgh in 1802. Mr. McKin- ley is spoken of as one of the noblest of men, a man to pattern after. Of many things spoken of, his conduct under calamity was most frequently dwelt upon. Having become liable for the debts of others, his property was brought under the Sheriff's hammer, and on the day of sale when it was seen that the goods levied upon would not meet his liabilities, he took his watch from his pocket when he might have legally retained it, and manifested no regret. But when there was still a balance against him, and " Scott's Commentaries " must go to meet it he was scen to weep ; this book having been such a source of comfort to himself and a help in comforting others in various ways. Mr. Mckinley represented his Presbytery in the General Assembly in 1793 and in 1797, 1802 and in 1807. He also frequently re- presented his county in the Legislature of Virginia. One of his daughters was the wife of Rev. James Hervey. Rev. Edward G. Mckinley of Ligonier, Pa., is a grandson. Wm. Mckinley died May 20, 1838, aged seventy-five years.
THOMAS YATES began attending Presbytery in 1819. Is be- lieved to have been an elder much earlier, probably 1807. He
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transferred his membership to Three Ridges, where he was also elected an elder. He died September 7, 1855. His son, Andrew Yates, was elected an elder September 6, 1828. Died Decem- ber 19, 1876. Byers T. Yates, a son of Andrew, was elected an elder December 12, 1853, and is still serving. They were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the most orthodox stamp. Their descendants are very numerous and are largely represented in the ministry and eldership of the Presbyterian Church.
LOWER BUFFALO.
ARTHUR SCOTT was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1760. Came west at the close of the Revolutionary War and settled in the eastern part of Washington County, near Ginger Hill. In 1786, in connection with his brother Samuel, purchased land in Hopewell Township. He was married in 1789, to Ann Hamil- ton, sister of David Hamilton, Esq., of Ginger Hill. They were, it is believed, original members of the Church of Lower Buffalo, and Mr. Scott became an elder at an early date. Tradition says that he was faithful in his family, in the church, and in all the relations of life : a good and useful man. He died on his farm four miles south of Independence July 24, 1843, aged eighty- three years.
Arthur Scott was the father of COL. JOSEPH SCOTT, who has been an elder in Lower Buffalo Church, and a teacher in its Sabbath-school for more than fifty years.
CROSS ROADS (KINGS CREEK).
DAVID PHILIP JACKSON was the oldest of four brothers who came with their parents from Maryland about 1779, and settied at the Cross Roads. Under the preaching of Rev. Joseph Smith at Cross Creek, he was converted and united with that church. When Kings Creek was organized in 1785, he transfered his membership to it and was elected ruling-elder. In 1798 the location of the church was changed to Cross Roads, and here in 1800 the call for the first pastor, Rev. Elisha McCurdy, was signed by him in connection with Miles Wilson and John McMillan, and carried by him to the Presbytery of Ohio. In the great revival which followed the settlement of Mr. MeCurdy,
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Philip Jackson was ever active and watchful for souls. He had great power in prayer and was known as the praying elder. He loved the church and daily plead her cause at the throne of grace. During the progress of this revival, when but fifty-three years of age, he was called home to receive his reward. He died February 13, 1803. He had a brother, JOSEPH JACKSON, who became an elder 1807, and died 1824. MARION JACKSON, an elder, who died June 24, 1888, was a grandson.
JOHN TRAVIS came from Wales when quite young. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He was commissioned a sub-lieutenant of York County, Pa., in 1778, by Supreme Ex- ecutive Council, Thomas Wharton, Jr., President, signing the commission. He was married early in life to Rebecca St. Clair. On first coming to the west he settled in Fayette County, Pa. He was an elder in Laurel Hill Church in 1793. He repre- sented Cross Roads Church in the Presbytery of Ohio in ISOI. His last residence was near New Lisbon, Ohio. He was an elder there under Rev. C. Vallandigham. For several years before his death, September 26, 1827, he had been entirely blind. His preceding life had also been shadowed with affliction. While resident in Fayette County, he was subject for a time to mental derangement. Subsequently through misplaced confidence he lost his worldly estate. Despite all, by faith in God, he held fast his integrity, and in ripe age went down to the grave in peace. He was a strong temperance man, much in advance of the time in which he lived; was powerful in prayer, a comforter of those in trouble, a man greatly honored and beloved.
Of Mr. Travis' descendants several have been ruling elders and two at least Presbyterian ministers. Rev. Wm. Travis of Grand Fork, Dakota, is a grandson by his second son William, who was married to Alice, daughter of Philip Jackson, and was an elder at Wellsville and Salem, Ohio, and has a son Israel T., an elder at Youngstown, Ohio. Rev. M. Moore Travis, Super- intendent in the United States Indian Service, Pima Agency, Sacaton, Arizona, is also a grandson by his youngest son Robert, who was long an elder of Bethel Church in Steubenville Presby- tery, and has a son John, now an elder in New Lisbon, Ohio. The oldest son of Mr. Travis was married to a daughter of
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Miles Wilson. Their son John T. is an elder. Several others of the descendants are elders.
JAMES PROUDFIT, SR., was born about 1760. He signed the call for the first pastor. He was elected an elder in 1803, led the music during the great revival of 1802, and was also a teacher in the Sabbath-school. He died in 1856, aged ninety-six years. His last words were, " Come, Saviour, and take me home."
SAMUEL FULTON was a soldier of the Revolution. He had the rank of captain, and served to the close of the war. He re- ceived a gunshot wound in the cap of his knee which rendered him slightly lame for life. He declined to receive a pension, ยท saying that he was amply compensated in the deliverance of his country from British oppression. After the war he resided in Baltimore, where he was married to Catherine Smith, a relative of Rev. Joseph Smith of Cross Creek. Removing to Washing- ton County, Pa., he purchased a farm within the bounds of Cross Roads Church, in which he became an elder in 1803, in the time of Father McCurdy. A grandson, Rev. Samuel Fulton, whose home was with him from childhood until he went to college, writes thus concerning him : "He was a regular attender of church and prayer-meetings, cold or hot, rain or sunshine. He was liberal and prompt in both the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church, always paying his subscriptions and pew-rent the day they were duc.
"He was a strict observer of the Sabbath, and always ceased work on the farm, with all his hired men, at three or four o'clock on Saturday to rest and prepare for the Sabbath, and on that day he never engaged in worldly conversation. He was a 'living epistle known and read of all,' in the community where he lived."
Mr. Fulton died about the year 1819, leaving a family of five sons and three daughters, all of whom were members of the church. One son, Robert, entered the ministry. He was a graduate of Washington College in 1833, where he served for a time as tutor in the Latin and Greek languages. He afterwards taught at Florence, Pa., and Ashland, O., where he also preached until his death. Mr. Fulton had, likewise, three grandsons who became ministers : Rev. William Fulton, who preached in Iowa,
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where he died; Rev. Robert J. Fulton, who was pastor for a few years, until his death, of the church of Buffalo in the Zanesville Presbytery ; and (Rev. Samuel Fulton, for many years a pastor in Pittsburgh, now spending the evening of his life in West- chester, Pa.
Four great-grandsons also of Mr. Fulton have become preachers of the gospel : Rev. John M. Fulton, of Fort Wayne, Ind. ; Rev. Wm. P. Fulton, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa .; Rev. Albert A. Fulton, missionary at Canton, China (whose sister, Miss M. H. Fulton, M.D., is a member of the same mission); and Geo. W. Fulton, a licentiate, who has offered his service to the Presbyte- rian Board of Foreign Missions.
JOHN DUNCAN, SR., was elected an elder in 1803; he was also a teacher in the Sabbath-school, and a zealous worker in his Mas- ter's cause. He was for several years a member of Synod's Board of Trust. He died March 28, 1850, aged eighty-two. He had a son, John Duncan, Jr., who was elected elder in 1831. He died February 17, 1876, aged seventy-six. Rev. Jesse C. Bruce, of Franklin, Pa., is married to the youngest daughter of John Duncan, Jr.
JAMES KERR, father of Rev. John Kerr, for a number of years pastor of the church of Monongahela City, and now residing at Parnassus, Pa., was ordained an elder in 1815, and died in 1847.
GEORGE ANDERSON Was ordained in 1815. He was first super- tendent of the Sabbath-school in 1818. He was married to Miss Katie McCloud, of Florence. About the year 1820 he removed to St. Clairsville, O., where he died. Mr. Anderson was a brother of Rev. John Anderson, D.D., pastor of Upper Buffalo.
JAMES McFARREN, EsQ., a brother of Rev. Samuel McFarren, D.D., was born at Northampton, on the Delaware, June 12, 1786. He came west with his father's family in 1807, and settled on a farm near Florence, where he afterwards lived for fifty-three years. In 1820 he was chosen superintendent of the Sabbath- school, which office he held until 1860. He was also a teacher in the Sabbath-school and trustee of the church, and was elected an elder in 1831. In 1842 he was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania from Washington County, and also was a Justice of the Peace for several years. In all these rela-
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tions, both to the church and the State, Mr. McFarren acted the part of an upright man and sincere Christian. He died Novem- ber 3, 1866, and sleeps in the cemetery of the church of Cross Roads.
JOHN McCONNELL, SR., was born December 19, 1784, and was elected ruling elder February 20, 1853 ; he was also a trustec, and a teacher in the Sabbath-school for many years. He died April 11, 1879, and his wife died March 9, 1888, aged one hun- dred years, eight months and eleven days, having been a mem- ber of the church for eighty-five years.
JAMES WALLACE was ordained and installed an elder in 1820, and died October, 1863.
WILLIAM MERCER was elected an elder February 20, 1850, and died June 13, 1876.
DAVID CULBERTSON was born near Cross Creek ; was elected an elder September 23, 1867, and died August, 1886. His gifts to the church and Sabbath-school were many and liberal.
WILLIAM J. COOL was a tailor by trade ; he was also Postmas- ter for many years. He was elected and ordained an elder December 27, 1855. He was also a trustee of the church, a teacher in the Sabbath-school, and its superintendent from 1860 until 1879. He died in Carrollton, O., September 8, ISSO.
THREE SPRINGS.
WILLIAM LEE was one of the first bench of elders, a strong pillar in the church. He represented it in presbytery fifteen times from 1800 to ISI8. He was one of three elders chosen as members of Synod's Board of Trust in ISo5. He died August 27, 1819.
JOHN ORR was born July 5, 1765, and came into the bounds of Three Springs Church from the vicinity of Carlisle, Pa., about 1795. His name first appears on the roll of presbytery in 1803. He was married August 11, 1788, to Mary Gilson. A second wife was a Mrs. Hindman. He died March 1, 1843. His only son, Thomas, became an elder in the Holliday's Cove Church at its organization, in 1846, having previously been an elder in the Three Springs Church. Four grandsons, sons of Thomas Orr, viz .: Thomas $., George G., Samuel H. and
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James C. Orr, became elders. The last-named alone survives, serving in the Second Church of Wheeling. Two great grand- sons are elders. On the female side, the facts are similarly re- . markable, nearly, if not quite all, the daughters and grand- daughters of John Orr having become wives of elders.
SAMUEL MAXWELL was born near Carlisle, Pa. When a young man he came West, and settled on a farm, in what is now Hancock County, W. Va. He was, it is believed, one of the converts of the great revival at Three Springs in 1802.
It is certain that he was an attendant on those meetings, and often, in his advanced years, dwelt in conversation on the inci- dents and scenes connected with that wonderful work of grace, which seems to have made a most vivid impression upon his mind. About the year 1808, or possibly a few years later, he was ordained by Mr. McCurdy one of the elders of Three Springs Church. It was a source of great sorrow to him when about the year 1854, the old stone church was abandoned, and the congregation became two, one branch worshipping at Holli- day's Cove and the other at Paris. He never ceased to think regretfully of the old consecrated place of worship, about which had gathered, for him, so many hallowed associations and blessed memories. In the fall of 1865, at the age of eighty- nine years, he died, and was laid to rest in the burial ground of the church he so dearly loved.
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