Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 64

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 64

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The call was sustained and presented. Mr. Blair was not willing to settle at once, but de- sired to travel for a year. Under the advice of Dr. Bruce, he accepted the call upon the condition that he should not enter upon his charge for at least a year. The remainder of the year 1817, and the early months of 1818, he spent in a preaching tour in the South, going through Virginia and the Carolinas and returning by way of Tennessee, Ken- tucky and Ohio, performing the entire jour- ney upon horseback. While in Ohio he preached several times to the Associate con- gregation of Xenia. A call was proposed, but Mr. Blair said: "No, I could not accept it, I have promised to go back to Indiana," And though the prospects at Xenia were more flattering than here, he returned to fulfill the engagement already made.

In the spring of 1818 the Presbytery of Chartiers met at Canonsburg, Pa. Mr. Blair was present and delivered his trial discourses for ordination. Under the same influence which had controlled the Presbytery before, his trial discourses were condemned and re- jected, and texts for new discourses assigned to be delivered at a subsequent meeting of the Presbytery. Mr. Blair proceeded to ful- fill his remaining appointments and preached at Indiana, Crooked Creek and Conemaugh, one day in each. He then visited his home in Crawford county. From there he went to

Huntingdon, Pa., and on to Philadelphia to attend a meeting of the Synod in May. Leav- ing his horse at Philadelphia, he proceeded by public conveyance up through New York to Saratoga, preaching in vacant congregations.

Returning, he spent a short time here and then went to face Presbytery once more. Presbytery met at Canonsburg. He delivered his discourses and they were not condemned, though he did not take back anything of his so-called error in his former discourse. Rather amusing is the account he gives of it. It seems that the fault found with one of his previous discourses-known as the "popular sermon"-was that it was defective on' the doctrine of the divine sonship of Christ. Not that he impugned that important doctrine, but that he ignored a certain line of metaphys- ical argument in support of it which is neither scriptural nor intelligible to any human mind. To draw him out fully he was given the text, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" Mr. Blair opened his sermon from this text by saying that the question was asked by the Savior of a certain man born blind, whose sight the Lord Jesus had restored by a mir- acle, and who had been condemned and put out of the synagogue for confessing his divine character and mission. After fully elucidat- ing that point, he made a practical application by asking whether a Presbytery had ever been known to do such a thing. Clearly they had put a sharp sword in his hands when they gave him that text, and he was bold enough to smite them with it. When his introduction was ended, he simply gathered the ideas of his previous sermon-the rejected one, and pre- sented them again in the same order, and nearly in the same words. Rev. T. Allison, a member of the Presbytery, in his criticism of this discourse, said : "He has gathered up ev- erything we faulted in the former discourses, and has rebuked us openly before the same congregation that heard the other discourses opposed." Rev. James Ramsey only remarked, "I thought the young man had let the mercury rise too high in the introduction to the popu- lar sermon, but I approve of the discourses." It was due to the influences of these two mem- bers of the Presbytery that Mr. Blair's for- mer discourses had been condemned. At this time some members of the Presbytery were op- posed to "occasional hearing." The young candidate for ordination was known to regard their opposition as groundless, and for this opinion Rev. J. Walker desired to have him tried. The Presbytery did not comply with Rev. Mr. Walker's request, and the matter

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was dropped. Mr. Blair was ordained with- out being asked to comply with the usual rules.

Presbytery appointed a commission of which Dr. Robert Bruce, of Pittsburg, and Rev. John Dickey were members to install Rev. David Blair, "in the congregations north of Cone- maugh river." The exact date of Mr. Blair's installation is uncertain. One record fixes it on the 7th of October, 1818, while the "Re- port of the Presbytery of Chartiers" to Synod in May, 1819, sets forth that "on the second Wednesday of October, Mr. David Blair was ordained to the holy 'ministry and installed in the United congregations of Indiana, Crooked Creek and Conemaugh." At all events, it is quite certain that he was installed in October, 1818, by a commission at Crooked Creek, now known as West Union, at which time and place Rev. Mr. Blair first held com- munion and was assisted by Rev. Alex. Wil- son, from Washington county.

Mr. Blair was the first pastor settled in this charge. Other ministers had preached here, and a call had been made out and presented Rev. Mr. McClelland, who declined it.

We have no means of ascertaining the num- ber of members in the churches over which Mr. Blair was placed. He relates that there could not have been more than a half dozen families in the Indiana congregation. We find in the statistical table of 1819, published by Synod, the three congregations are credited with 230 members.

Wednesday, May 24, 1820, the Associate Synod met at Huntingdon, Pa., and on the evening of that day Mr. Blair, by request of Synod, preached from Acts iv. 12. "Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." On Monday, May 29, 1880, a petition was presented to Synod from the South asking that two minis- ters be sent to preach for a few months, and that Rev. Mr. Blair be one of them. That day the following entry was made in the minutes : "Nine o'clock P. M. Messrs. Murray and Blair were appointed on a mission for three mouths (September, October and November) to the churches under our inspection in the Presbytery of the Carolinas, particularly to visit the vacant congregations as extensively as possible, to inquire into the state of set- tled congregations, to meet with the Presby- tery and make report to next meeting of Synod; and they were authorized to draw , upon the Treasurer for a sum of money to bear the expenses, not exceeding $100, and likewise for such sums as may be necessary to

remunerate the preachers who may be em- ployed to supply their pulpits in their ab- sence. Adjourned."

Synod met next morning at six o'clock, and after appointing a committee of two to pub- lish the minutes, and some devotional exer- cises, adjourned.

Mr. Blair was to have been married in the fall of that year, but when he received his ap- pointment to the South, he postponed his mar- riage until his return. He came up the "Val- ley of Virginia" and stopped at Huntingdon, where his intended bride lived. The day was fixed for their marriage and he came on to Indiana, and resumed his labors among his people. At the appointed time he returned to Huntingdon on horseback. Early in the year 1821 he was married to Miss Margaret Steele, of Huntingdon. "She proved, as many here well know, 'a help meet for him,' such as not every minister is blessed in finding. After a long life of usefulness, she was called hence, April 6th, 1865, leaving a blessed mem- ory to her husband and children and to all this community."

When Mr. Blair reached Indiana, after his return from the South, he was amazed to find charges of heterodoxy had been raised against him. We need not follow them to their com- plete failure. These early troubles are best understood by remembering that Mr. Blair had no sympathy with the extreme doctrines -amounting in his view to almost fatalism- which some of them held. He believed and preached the old "narrow doctrines as they were called, in regard to the plan of salva- tion and the freedom of the gospel offer of Christ, and all his benefits to lost sinners, sim- ply as such, and without any limitation by the sublime mysteries of God's sovereign decrees. These 'Narrow Doctrines' the United Presby- terian Church now hold it their glory as a church to proclaim."

The Associate Synod again convened at Pittsburg in May, 1821. Mr. Blair and Mr. Murray were in attendance and presented a report of their proceedings in the mission to the Carolinas. The report was read and ac- cepted. The following is an extract from it, and all is of general interest: "We complied with the directions of Synod so far as was in our power. We entered the service of the church in the Presbytery of the Carolinas, Mr. Blair on the last Sabbath of August and Mr. Murray on the last Sabbath of September, and we continued our services in the bounds of that Presbytery until the last Sabbath of November, during which time we preached

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the gospel in the congregations both settled said ministers be enjoined to endeavor to have and vacant and dispensed the Lord's Supper said act carried into effect." Messrs. Doman, Blair and W. Wilson were appointed a com- mittee to carry out the will of Synod. as often as was in our power. With regard to the state of the church in the Presbytery of the Carolinas, the limits of a report of this In 1822 Synod met at Philadelphia. Dr. Robert Bruce and Rev. D. Blair, of Chartiers Presbytery, and John Dickey, of Ohio Pres- bytery, presented their petition for the erec- tion of a new Presbytery comprehending Pittsburg, Ligonier, Conemaugh, Bethel, Glade Run and Mr. Dickey's congregation. The Synod, having heard the members of Chartiers and Ohio Presbyteries, considered it expedient to divide Chartiers Presbytery and appointed the petitioners, together with several other ministers and their ruling el- ders, to meet in Presbytery at Bethel on the first Tuesday of July next at noon, said Pres- bytery to be designated the Presbytery of Al- legheny. The new Presbytery was organized July 9, 1822. The three congregations. In- diana, Conemaugh and Crooked Creek, re- mained in this Presbytery until 1858, when the Associate and Associate Reformed Churches united, forming the United Pres- byterian Church, and Conemaugh Presby- tery was organized according to the appoint- ment of Synod, at Shelocta, Indiana county, November 12, 1858, and was constituted with prayer by Rev. David Blair, as appears by the report of the Presbytery to the First United Presbyterian Synod, which met in Allegheny City, Pa., September 28, 1859. kind will not permit us to give a particular de- tail. The people received us with every mark of affection and attended our ministry in considerable numbers. They manifested such a concern for the gospel as will warrant a minister to hope that by diligence and fidel- ity to his trust, his labors may be successful ; but we must acknowledge that the principles and habits of slavery must be very prejudicial to the life of religion, even under the most energetic and faithful ministry; the best laid plans for reformation are by these de- moralizing principles powerfully resisted and owing to the influences of these principles, the minister of the gospel sees himself de- prived of communion with the religious who emigrate to the free States in the western country in numbers far exceeding anything known in northern congregations. But not- withstanding all these discouragements we have reason to believe that the day is not far off when a change is to take place with regard to religion in that country and God will build up Zion; for slavery is felt more and more as a moral evil as its bad consequences on society are by the generality discovered. We spoke our sentiments with the utmost free- dom to congregations, to church sessions and families, and all seemed to be sensible of the claims of slaves to the privileges of Chris- tianity and the rights of citizens; and some we have reason to believe are truly desirous of knowing how their slaves are to be put into possession of these privileges. We hope the Synod will continue their exertion in be- half of religion in that country, and that the addition of a number of zealous, faithful min- isters to their number will be of great advan- tage to those who are settled, and under the blessing of the King of Zion, give life to re- ligion.

" David Blair,

"Alexander Murray."

When Mr. Blair was settled it was as pas- tor of the three congregations, Conemaugh, Crooked Creek and Indiana. They were then known to Presbytery and Synod under the single name of Conemaugh. These were at that time the only organized congregations of the Associate Church in this region, so that Mr. Blair was the Seceder bishop of all the congregations north of the Conemaugh river. His home was established in Indiana. Crooked Creek was twelve miles away, and Conemaugh fifteen. His labors were not con- fined to these points exclusively. He preached as opportunity offered all over the county. But in the three places he ministered regu- larly, preaching one third of the time in each congregation and receiving from each one third of the salary promised. The county was sparsely settled then. The census report for 1820 gives the whole population at 8,882. The roads are poor enough yet, but grand highways in comparison with the bridle paths and stumpy tracks through the woods, and

The Synod learning from the above report "about the act of Synod relative to slave- holding States, a committee was appointed to report on the most effective means for en- forcing the observance of said act among the people of our communion in said States." The Synod also resolved "that copies of the act of Synod on slavery, 1811, be transmitted to the several ministers in our communion fords across unbridged streams, which were' residing in the slaveholding States, and that the only routes of travel then. For more

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than twenty years he rode this circuit from ministry here without thinking of the many Indiana, summer and winter. It is perhaps important moral and religious events it cov- owing largely to the constant, regular and vig- orous exercise in the open air which his charge necessitated that the somewhat deli- cate young man. supposed to be a little weak in the lungs, grew physically strong and built p a constitution which kept him alive to his ninety-fifth year.

In the year 1840 he resigned the charge of Conemaugh, and gave half of his time to each of the other congregations. The ar- rangement continued without change until July, 1852, when Rev. Samuel Anderson be- came his colleague in the charge of the two congregations, preaching alternate days with him, as a rule, at Crooked Creek and at In- diana. From this time the congregation at Indiana had preaching full time. In July, 1858, Mr. Blair became pastor for the whole of his time at Indiana, and Mr. Anderson was settled as pastor of Crooked Creek or West Union.

On the 24th of August, 1862, at Elderton, Pa., Mr. Blair tendered the resignation of his charge to the United Presbyterian Pres- bytery of Conemaugh. At a meeting in Oc- tober of the same year, at Mahoning, he was finally released. Forty-four years had passed from the time of his ordination and installa- tion. During all these long years he had preached clearly and fully the doctrines of the everlasting gospel. and performed the multiple duties of a pastor, visiting the homes of his people to counsel and to cate- chise, to comfort the sick and bury the dead, marrying the sons and daughters of the con- gregation, and baptizing their children. He had attained the age of seventy-five years, and felt that the time had come for his re- tirement. He knew not, nor could others know, to what an uncommon length his life should extend. The fact of his long contin- ued relations to the same people among whom his ministry began is of itself no slight proof of his ability as a preacher, and his excel- lence as a man.

In 1878, when the old homestead was torn down to make way for improvements, Mr. Blair went to live with his daughter, Mrs. Margaret B. Taylor, of Indiana, where he made his home until his death in 1882.

Rev. W. S. Owens, in concluding his sketch of the life of Mr. Blair in his historical ser- mon of the U. P. congregation of Indiana, delivered in February, 1880, says :

"We cannot look back over a period of years so long as that included in Mr. Blair's

ers. We cannot speak of these except as they were felt here, and as they were con- nected more or less intimately with his life and work. There was the great antimasonic excitement of 1826 and the year following. In reference to this, Mr. Blair's teaching and action were in the fullest accord with the po- sition which the Associate Church had as- sumed. * There was the question of * * slavery. As far back as 1811 the Associate Church had adopted the position of utter con- demnation of the institution and had enjoined the most positive teaching and discipline. Mr. Blair disapproved to some extent the measures advocated by the early abolitionists, but from their principles and those of his church he never swerved. He was among those who helped to educate the public senti- ment of this region in the antislavery princi- ples which ultimately wiped out the foul blot upon our free constitution and Christian civ- ilization. There was the question of Union between the Associate and Associate Reformed Churches -- a question which was always in agitation from the beginning of his ministry. Ile was always a pronounced and active union man. He resisted the narrow spirit of exclusiveness and advocated always the broad principles of Christian charity and unity which only in later years have attained gen- eral acceptance. No man worked harder to secure that happy union in 1858 which gave birth to our present United Presbyterian Church, and no man rejoiced with a greater joy when it was at last accomplished, after long years of hopes and fears, of prayers, la- bors and struggles. * *

* I have some- times thought Dr. Blair is only a generation in advance of us on that subject. Then, finally, there was the great Civil war and the issues involved in it. It began, though it did not close, while he was still pastor of this church. I need not say that he was on the side of 'the Union, one and indivisible,' and that this pul- pit gave forth no uncertain sounds on the mighty issues then pending."

Dr. J. Day Brownlee is a native of Wash- ington county, Pa. He served in the Civil war, in Company K, 8th Pennsylvania Re- serves. He was educated at the Washington and Westminster Colleges, and was gradu- ated from the theological seminary in 1869. He was licensed May 5, 1869, by Chartiers Presbytery, and traveled for a year as an itinerant minister, being ordained May 10, 1870. He served as pastor of the United

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Presbyterian Church of Wellsville, Ohio, from May, 1870, to December 31, 1875. On Oc- tober 19, 1877, he became the pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church of Indi- ana, Pa., and still continues to serve that congregation. From 1895 to 1900 he supplied the pulpit of the United Presbyterian Church at Greenville (Penn Run), Pennsylvania.

During Dr. Brownlee's pastorate at Indi- ana the membership of the congregation has increased from 289 to 555. He has preached to the Indiana congregation 2,747 sermons, officiated at 427 weddings, baptized 380 per- sons, attended 324 funerals and received into the church to date 1,097 persons. Sixty mem- bers went from this congregation to form the Second United Presbyterian Church.

SECOND CHURCH, INDIANA

The Second United Presbyterian Church of Indiana, Pa., was begun May 5, 1894, when twenty-two members of the First United Presbyterian Church of Indiana decided to organize a Second Church. The first preach- ing services were in Library Hall, Rev. H. I. Graham officiating. Application was made to Conemaugh Presbytery for an organization, bnt the request was refused. An appeal was made to Synod, who by a vote of eighty-seven to thirty directed Presbytery to grant the or- ganization of the Second United Presbyte- rian Church, Rev. R. A. Jamison officiating.

The elders at organization were: Messrs. Anderson, Hamil, (Hon. S. J.) Telford, Stew- art, Rowe. The trustees were: Daugherty, Adams, Nesbit, Moorhead, Stewart. The mem- bership was forty-six.

In 1896 a neat brick church was built on North Seventh street at a cost of $6,500.

The first communion was held by Rev. J. oped into an organization of importance from

A. McGill. The pastors who have served the congregation during its nineteen years of ex- istence are: Revs. Neil Ferguson, J. M. Welch, Charles E. Newcomb. The present (1913) membership is one hundred. The el- ders are : Messrs. Cummins, Getty, Moore, (Hon. S. J.) Telford. The trustees are: Messrs. Alker, Calhoun, Kelly, Stewart. Mr. Alker is the superintendent of the Sabbath school, which has a membership of eighty.

JACKSONVILLE

The village of Jacksonville for years had uo church organization of any denomination, the one whose history we now trace being the first established in this place. This does not seem to have been owing to irregularities on the part of the citizens, nor wholly to neg- lect or indifference, but rather to the fact that flourishing congregations existed in the vicinity to which many of the people had at- tached themselves. Before long it began to attract attention as a promising field for the establishment of a church bearing on its ban- ner the old reformation doctrines and prac- tices. About this time a neighboring congre- gation of the Presbyterian Church began to introduce hymns of secular composition into worship. A number of persons dissatisfied with this, and preferring the songs of the Bible as the matter of their praises, began to turn their thoughts towards a church ad- hering to the use of these songs.

Rev. Jonathan G. Fulton of the Associate Reformed Church was then located at Blairs- ville, Indiana county. Application was made to him, or probably through him, to the Pres- bytery of which he was a member, for a sup- ply of preaching. Mr. Fulton responded in person, whether on his own responsibility or by appointment of Presbytery does not ap- pear. He was the pioneer in the movement, being the first Associate Reformed minister to preach at Jacksonville. His eloquence and power as a gospel minister, as an able ex- pounder of the Word of God, are well known and highly spoken of throughout all. this re- gion, and doubtless contributed largely towards gathering together and uniting those who were favorable to this enterprise. By him chiefly it was fostered-under his care and labors it grew and speedily devel-

the very outset. What is now known as the United Presbyterian congregation of Jack- sonville was organized in 1841, under the care of the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Blairsville, by Rev. Jonathan G. Fulton and his session, Messrs. William Pike and John McCrea, of Blairsville congregation. The organization took place in Jacksonville in a building then used for the double purpose of a schoolhouse and a place of worship. It was the only building of the kind then in the vil- lage, and was used in common by all denomi- nations holding services in the place. Forty-

Since organization the church has paid for home support $27,000 and for missions $10,- 000. Including the $6,500 paid for building, six members were received at the time of the the total amount paid out has been $43,500. organization; of these, a considerable number

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

came from the Presbyterian congregation of Alex. MeCahan for two or three years. He Bethel; of the others, we have no account as to the source from which they came.

At the time of the organization Messrs. George Lowman, Hugh Blakely and James Lyons were elected and ordained as elders. Mr. Lyons soon afterwards removed. Other members of the session were Robert Gamble, tinued in this relation for over fourteen years. William Stewart, Francis Crooks, J. Y. Mc- Cartney, Samuel Wilson, John Gilmore, Sr., Alexander Graham, J. Campbell, John Gil- more, Jr., William Gammell, John Lytle, Scott Lowman. George Graham, Samuel Reed and William Gammell were ordained as elders June 17, 1877; Hugh Cunningham, M. H. Henry and A. G. Stewart were ordained No- vember 25, 1891; T. M. Lowman, T. M. Gra- ham and R. A. Hart, ordained February 14, 1902. The present elders are: A. G. Stew- ari, clerk; R. A. Hart. The present board of trustees are: W. H. Frank, Alex. Ewing, R. M. Stewart, Clark Henderson, H. C. Neal, Alex. Cunningham.

The first meetings of the congregation for religious services were held sometimes in the house referred to above, in which the organ- ization was effected, but this being found too small to accommodate the numbers that came to hear the Word the meetings were frequently held in the open air, in a grove by a spring. perhaps because "there was much water there." In 1842, or about one year after the organization took place, they erected their first house of worship-a brick building. 48 by 55. About the last of June, 1876, it was taken down in order to make way for another which was erected in 1880. The audience room of the new church is 44 by 64, and the vestibule 8 by 12. It is a frame building, costing $4,000.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 64

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930