USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Claysville > Our church and our village > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
I
"Onery, twoery, Ickory Ann, Filison, Folison, Nicholas, John ; Queebie, Quawbie, English Mary, Stringelum, Strangelum, Buck.
II
"Onery Urey, Ickory Avey, Halibout, Crackabout, Tamboavey, Mingo, Mango, Merry go Me, Humbly, Bumbly, Ninety-three.
III
" Hayley, Mayley, Chickenny, Chaw, Heepy, Peepy, Craney, Aw."
In the early period of my attendance at our village school its curriculum was mostly confined to the three R's. It was never widened so far as to embrace Ger- man, French, etc. I smypathize with those who be- lieve that but one language ought to prevail in the American common school, and that language is the English. There ought to be no such thing as a German-American. There always will be, however, as long as the encouragement is given to the difference of tongues among the people. The fact ought to be everywhere as a Michigan man is said to have put it:
I68
Our Village Home
"I don't believe in this learning German, Spanish, French, or any foreign language. Why, I lived among a lot of Germans and got along with them just as well as if I had known their language; but I didn't, not a word of it."
On being asked, " How did you contrive it? " he re- plied: " Why, you see, they understood mine."
An amusing phase of this idea is presented in the following: A German enters a restaurant. An Irish waiter greets him with "Good morning!" "Wie gehtes? " answers the German. "Wheat cakes!" shouts the Irishman to the kitchen. "Nein, nein!" protests the German. To which the Irishman responds, " Faith, and you'll be lucky if you get three."
All hail the common school! Rejected be the thought, paralyzed be the effort, overthrown be the church that would hinder, cripple, pervert, sectarianize, destroy the common school. We cannot do without this means of the general education of the people. Without this fulcrum of rational freedom our Republic is a failure.
OUR VILLAGE CHURCH
In the present paper it is proposed to present the church of Our Village Home after the manner of a composite picture, as we consider it in its interdenomi- national aspect rather than in its particular phase of Christian life and doctrine.
The Presbyterian house of worship was the prin- cipal building of Our Village Home. The beauty of its location served to render one less sensitive to the
12
169
Our Village Home
plainness of its architecture. The congregation which gathered within its walls embraced the main portion of the community. Its history is the registry of the in- crease which God has given to the planting of Thomas Hoge, and to the watering of Peter Hassinger, John Knox, William Wright, George Gordon, John Mil- ler, David McConaughey, Nicholas Murray, Alex- ander McCarrell, James L. Leeper, and Frank Fish. And as I think of the three generations which have worshipped in that church; of the sons of Levi who have gone forth from those family pews to serve God in the Gospel ministry; of the praises, the prayers, the sermons, the communions, the Sunday-school ses- sions, the singing schools, the revivals, which made the Presbyterian meeting-house of Our Village Home the house of God and the gate of Heaven-I feel that the ideal is the logical consequent of the real when I affirm that the venerable pile is a monument whose proper inscription is, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
At the west end of Our Village Home there stood the church home of a little band of the disciples of John Wesley. Its exhibition of the consecration and zeal of the noble founder of Methodism caused the venerable men, godly women, and stalwart Christians who made the quarterly meeting the event of the year, to be a power for good in the community. Its roll of ministers is an honorable one. I have a dim recollec- tion of Rev. Mr. McCaskey. Among my first im- pressions of the power of personal presence in a preacher, one was derived from a little boy's view of the famous presiding elder, Battelle. The utterances
170
Our Village Home
of Father Hudson, that old man eloquent, are still ring- ing in my ear. To look upon the venerable Father Hudson was to feel that you were before a man of God. The time would fail me to tell of Messrs. Deeves, Dempsey, Pugh, McGuire, Turner, Morrison, Boyle, and others forgotten here, but not forgotten in God's book of remembrance.
As I write, the congregation rises before me, the males on one side of the house and the females on the other, and Father Noble and Father Milligan are in the Amen corner; that miracle of grace, John Zinn, is shouting " Hallelujah " ; James and Samson Patterson are holding to Christ in true Methodist fashion; that man of affairs, Samuel D. Rickey, is walking with the God who took him to Heaven, and sweet-tempered Phillip Sliffe is singing the songs of Zion.
Several families of Our Village Home worshipped God in the Associate Church of South Buffalo. This church represented the "straitest sect of the Presby- terians " in our community. They praised God in Rouse's version of the Psalms of David. They were averse to occasional hearing. Their religious services were somewhat protracted. They observed the Thurs- day fast-day. They reverenced the holy Sabbath.
The South Buffalo pulpit was filled by able men. "I always bowed in reverence before the good, grey head " of Rev. David French, whose name was a household word throughout the region during my childhood. As long as he lived, the church customs of the olden time were faithfully observed. Once I heard him fencing the tables on a communion occa- sion. He certainly proved that no one ought to sit
17I
Our Village Home
down at the Lord's Table who was not on the right side of the Ten Commandments. After Mr. French came that fearless advocate of truth, that well-instructed scribe, that genial companion, Rev. Dr. James Carson. He was followed by the Rev. Alexander McLachlan, under whose pastorate the meeting-house at South Buffalo has been exchanged for the most beautiful church in Our Village Home.
The South Buffalo Church emphasized the family idea of the church. The names of Brownlee, Carson, Crothers, Graham, Grimes, Knox, McMillen, McNeal, Milligan, Ralston, Sawhill, reminded one of the fami- lies which clustered around the Tabernacle of the Wil- derness.
But the rush of past recollections brings to view a little church which stood on a hill a few miles to the southward from Our Village Home. On that spot, for nearly a century, the denomination with which Peter Otterbein has linked his name has lifted the banner of the cross. During my boyhood it was noted for exhibitions of the phenomena of the old-time re- ligious revival. The personality most prominently identified with the history of the Zion Church of the United Brethren in Christ was known by young and old as Joshua Stoolfire. As a type of the emotional in religion, he was a marked instance. As I think of the times that Heaven came to him in the little church, the Zion of Dutch Fork transforms itself into the Mount Zion of the Book of Revelation, and the voice of Joshua Stoolfire helps to swell the sound of many waters which ascends to the Lamb that was slain.
172
Our Village Home
Thus the Presbyterian, the United Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the United Brethren churches were the one Church of the Living God of Our Village Home. "The unity of Christians," it has been well said, " is not found in formality, in credal expression, in propositional theology, in ecclesiastical arrange- ment; down in the centre of the heart, in a place un- touched, so to say, by human fingers, their lies the common organic nerve that unites Christendom in its worship and its hope."
And now I can only express my feeling concerning Our Village Home by the accommodation of the thought with which old Bishop Horne closed his " Meditations on the Psalms " : " Happier hours than those which I spent amid its scenes I never expect to see in this world. Very pleasantly did they pass, and they moved smoothly and swiftly along."
It is sweet to have the Present smile upon us. We look forward into the Future with all the charms of an- ticipation. As we look back at Our Village Home of the Past, " while our tears fall upon her," do we not at least " dream that she smiles just as she did of yore"? As the years roll by is not that Past dearer still? This is natural, for
" Who that recollects young years and loves, Though hoary now, and with a withering breast, And palsied fancy which no longer roves Beyond its dimmed eye's sphere, But would much rather sigh like his son Than cough like his grandfather ? "
O thou spot in which our spirit dwelt beneath the
I73
Our Village Home
glorious dawning of life! beloved world of boyhood! Though round and round thy boundaries the pigeons could fly in five minutes; though the martens, as they wheeled around the signboard box, described a circle which took in the surrounding forests, there is not in all the earth such an interchange of woods and meadows, glens, dells, and rocks; such living beings as those with which memory peoples our infancy and boy- hood, whose voices, laughter, eyes, forehead, hands so often grasped, arms linked in arms, have become scarcely more than images and echoes. And I set the strains of my heart to Christopher North's music as I say: " Melancholy and not mirth doth he hope to find who, after a life of wandering, and maybe not with- out sorrow, comes back on the places and homes wherein to his eyes once grew the flowers of Paradise." Flowers of Paradise are ye still; for praise be to God the sense of the old home is still strong within us, and, methinks, we could feel the beauty of the scene though our heart were broken.
174
-
Appendix
Appendix
THE GENESIS OF CLAYSVILLE
I am indebted to the Claysville Recorder of Novem- ber 17, 1897, for the following article:
A TRAMP PRINTER.
Samuel Haslett is the name given by a tramp printer who sauntered into the Recorder office last week. Sixty summers and more he had seen, for he has been a printer for nearly fifty years, and had only recently come from the Pacific coast. He was clothed in a rough suit and wore long iron gray hair and beard, and in his prime must have been a man of striking appearance.
But the curious part of his appearance here-his first visit-it will be interesting to note, is that 100 years ago his grandfather, John Purviance, owned all the land that Claysville is built upon. He said one of Purviance's daughters was now living in Butler County, and is past ninety years of age.
Looking up a little history we find that Claysville is a part of a tract of land taken up by Thomas Waller on a Pennsylvania warrant dated February 25, 1775, and surveyed the second day of the following April
177
Appendix
as "Superfine Bottom." It adjoined the Robert Walker tract of 420 acres taken up by a Virginia cer- tificate dated January, 1780, that of Robert Henry and other lands of Thomas Waller. The " Superfine Bot- tom," which embraces the site of Claysville, was passed by transfer to John Purviance. The old Wheeling road was opened through it. By this road, not long after the year 1800, Purviance opened a tav- ern in a large two-story log house having three rooms on the lower floor and four on the upper floor. This house stood on the lot now owned by Thomas Griffith and occupied by D. K. Irwin, landlord of the Bell House. Purviance had been keeping tavern a num- ber of years when the preliminary survey was made for the great National Road from Wheeling to Cum- berland. When it became certain by the final surveys for location made under Col. Eli Williams, that the route of the road would pass his house, Purviance promptly surveyed and laid out a prospective town. He was a believer in the use of printer's ink and ad- vertised in the Washington Reporter. The issue of April 21, 1817, contained this advertisement:
CLAYSVILLE .- The subscriber having laid off a number of building lots in the new town of Claysville, will offer the same at public sale on the premises, on Thursday, the eighth day of May next. Lots will be sold agreeably to a plan or plot exhibited on the day of sale.
Claysville is distant ten miles from Washington westward, and about eighteen east of Wheeling and six from Alexandria (West Alexander). The Great National Road from Cumber- land to Wheeling, as located by Colonel Williams and con- firmed by the President and now rapidly progressing toward its completion, passes directly through the town. The lots
178
Appendix
contain a front of fifty feet on the road and a depth back of two hundred feet, with suitable and convenient avenues to each block of lots. The " scite " of the town is beautiful, well- watered, a fertile country around it and a good population. To persons who may purchase and improve the present sea- son, the subscriber will give timber for any frame building that may be put without price. On the day of sale the terms of credit will be made known.
JOHN PURVIANCE.
The first house built on the site of Claysville after it was laid out by Purviance was erected by Simon Shurr on property now owned by the Claysville Real Estate Company, where the First National Bank now stands. Following were houses built by a Mr. Miller and one by Wm. Brownlee, a tailor, now occupied by W. R. Jones and John Denormandie.
This tramp printer's grandfather also gave the lot on which the first schoolhouse and the old Presby- terian Church in this place were built, $225.50 being subscribed to erect a school building. He is also said to have donated the old cemetery lot.
In 1835-36, John Birch was the tax collector, and William Milligan the town clerk, of the Borough of Claysville. The following names appear on the tax list:
James Armstrong, George Aston, John Barr, Thomas Anderson, William Brownlee, John Brock- man, Andrew Bell, Joseph Bryant, Abraham Brewer, John Birch, Moses Bell, Basil Brown, Alexander Chapman, Uriah Clarke, Lawrence Coffield, Eckart Carrol, Samuel Cooper, Samuel Gamble, Aquila Gar- retson, John Garret, Henry Giger, James Graham,
179
Appendix
William Humes, Joshua Howard, James Harvey, Sarah Hartzel, Joseph Henderson, Esq., Inggling (sign maker), Henry Jamison, Lewis Jones, Dr. James P. Kerr, Charles Knight, Hester Kurtz, John Kelly, Daniel Kurtz, William Knox, Thomas Knox, Joel Lamborn, William Milligan, Thomas Miller, Esq., John Marshall, Robert McNeal, Thomas McGiffin, Esq., John McCracken, Joseph McCracken, William Moor, Jonas Mills, Lemon McCarrell, James Noble, William Porter, John Patterson, David Richey, John Ritzell, Daniel Rider, Susanna Ralston, James Shanon, Simon Shur, Mathias Snyder, James Sawhill, Truesdell's (estate), Thomas Williams, Mrs. Vansickle, Robert Woods, George Wyth, Alexander White, James Wallace, George Wilson, William Jones.
The order with reference to delinquents, was that " in case goods and chattels cannot be found suffi- cient to satisfy the same (tax) with costs, you are authorized to take the body of such delinquent and convey him to the jail of this county, there to remain until the taxes with costs be paid, or secured to be paid, or otherwise discharged by due course of law."
Extract from the records of the Sunday-school, 1847:
Officer: Rev. Alexander McCarrell, Superintendent. Managers: John Birch, S. D. Rickey, James Noble.
CLASSES BOYS
I. Teacher: W. Darby.
Scholars: G. Hair, Morgan Kurtz, Joseph Noble,
180
Appendix
W. Kurtz, Jackson Loyd, James McCay, K. Walker, John Moore, J. Abercrombie.
2. Teacher: J. Patterson.
Scholars: James Noble, David Marshall, F. A. Birch, C. Haskinson, John Mills, J. Denormandie, George Cracraft.
3. Teacher: W. McCarriher.
Scholars: George McCay, William Craig, George McCarriher, Robert Mitchell, Joseph Craig.
4. Teacher: T. C. Noble.
Scholars: G. W. F. Birch, William Humes, Thos. Ritzel, Aaron Scott, Daniel Miller, George Rider, Isaac Kurtz.
5. Teacher: Alexander K. Craig.
Scholars: George Miller, Wm. Wallace, Samuel Rickey, Martin Moore, Thomas Noble, Ist, Thomas Noble, 2d, William Stewart, Joseph McKee.
GIRLS
I. Teacher: Margaret McCaskey.
Scholars: Mary McCracken, M. J. Mealy, Nancy Miller, M. A. Moore, Anna M. Rider, Mary Bell, Hester Meloy, Mary Meloy.
2. Teacher: Sarah McLain.
Scholars: N. C. Mounts, Deborah Russell, R. Anne Scott, Mary Jane Scott, Mary E. Curry, Hannah R. Craig, Mary Anderson.
3. Teacher: Nancy McLain.
Scholars: Harriet Campsey, Susan Campsey, S. Ligget, M. Mills, M. Campsey, E. Campsey, H. Blythe.
18I
Appendix
4. Teacher: F. Alexander.
Scholars: E. Nease, Julia A. Mealy, Frances Mc- Kee, Frances Loyd, Mary A. Miller, Eliza Mills, C. Ligget, E. Cracraft, C. McIlvaine, Ann E. Aber- crombie.
BIBLE CLASS
Teacher: Rev. Alexander McCarrell.
Members: John McLain, William R. Walker, M. McCarrell, Hugh Craig, Thomas Atkinson, Findley Robinson, Joseph McLain, M. H. Dean, T. S. Irwin, Calvin King, M. L. Stillwagen, D. C. Cracraft.
Sarah McLain, Miss Campsey, M. J. Rider, S. Rob- inson, Mary A. Ritezel, Margaret Anderson, Rachel Warrell, M. A. Noble, M. J. Humes, Hannah Mc- Cracken, Rebecca Henderson, Margaret A. Craig, Sarah Warrell, Mehitable Noble, Mary McLain, Susan Humes, Charlotte George, Frances George.
The following scholars received Testaments as a reward for memorizing the Scriptures:
Verses.
Verses.
Thomas Ritzel.
323
George W. F. Birch ... 350
Mary Byers ..
1,027
Mary Alexander
253
Mary E. Curry.
456
M. A. Moore 260
J. Craig
456 Mary Bell. 265
W. Craig ...
360
George McCay 350
James Woods.
351
Margaret Hall. 268
Susannah Ralston.
350 Margaret J. Mealy
262
Harriet Campsey
350 Emma Tjano.
253
Mary Meloy.
265
Margaret Campsey. 250
Extract from the report of the gentleman who had
182
Appendix
charge of the Claysville School during the year 1844. We give it without any alteration in the way of correc- tion.
Names of Scholars. Age.
Names of Scholars. Age.
Jno. Humes. 12
S. Lindley 20
M. Lamborn. 15
M. Ashbrook 15
C. Garrotson 14
E. Ashbrook II
E. Dickinson 13
M. Ashbrook. 9
Thos. Kerr. 14
M. McNeal. 7
Wm. Ritzel. 14
Wm. Dennison. 12
D. Callohan 15
Jam. Dennison IO
C. King. 15
Jno. Dennison. 6
Matilda Lamborn II
Jane Dennison 8
M. Ritzel. II
M. Kerr. 7
M. J. Rider. II
A. M. Rider 8
Jack Lamborn 17
Jas. Woods IO
Jno. Kerr. II
Jno. Woods. 8
Jno. Noble. 12
Jane Anderson 13
C. Anderson.
I6
M. Noble
17
S. Worrell 14
C. Humes 13
Jas. McNeal. 15
E. Meredith 13
Sam. Henderson 15
Wilm. McConahey 16
L. Cooper.
16
Isaac Kurtz. 10
Sam. McCracken. 15
Jno. McCracken IO
M. McCracken.
7
Thos. Ashbrook 12
Jas. Noble. 12
Nelson McNeal. 10
Jos. Noble.
8
Lemon Shannon IO
Geo. Rider. 10
Wilm. Humes. 10
M. Walker. II
N. M. Walker 12
James Anderson 21
Thos. Ritzel
IO
Will. Anderson. 14
Ann Gourley
9
183
Jno. Worrell
II
J. McNeal. 17
H. McCracken 15
David McConahey II
James Kerr. 10
Thomas Noble
9
Mahe. Noble.
13
M. J. Noble. 13
Appendix
Names of Scholars.
Age.
Names of Scholars. Age.
M. Kurtz.
7
D. Miller.
7
W. Kurtz.
6
M. Miller. 6
Wm. Woods. 6 George Birch. 6
M. Dille. 12
Jos. White 9
M. J. McConahey 6
J. Lloyd 7
Hen. Gourley 8
F. Lloyd. 6
Rob. Gourley II
C. Coler. 7
Jno. Gourley.
5
O. Tiffany. 6
Jas. McCay 5
Geo. McCay
7
Jno. Ligget. 9
Deb. Russel 10
-
- Liggett. 5
R. Milligan
16
Har. McDonald. II
T. Russel.
9
R. Wells
17
M. Bell.
7
J. Wells. I5
R. Meredith. 8
Thos. Dougherty. I2
Jas. McConahey. 12
II
Mary Anderson 12
- McConahey 7
M. J. Mealy 6
Aa. Scott. 12
J. Peek. 12
R. Scott.
8
A. Peek. 9
Fran. McKee 6
7
J. Mills
9
Syl. Sprout
8
M. A. Bennett
9
C. Humes
6
S. McDonald. 17
Wil. Kerr. 6
Joe. McCracken IO
S. M. McKee
8
Jos. McKee
7
The foregoing report contains a comment on each scholar, such as the following:
"An extraordinary boy; very attentive, and has made progress that riper years might envy."-" A very good boy, and has made excellent progress."- " A very studious girl."-" Has improved very much."
184
W. Worrell. 16
Bright Birch. 18
S. Sprout.
M. Shannon 14
Thos. Rider. 5
Jane McConahey.
S. Ligget. 7
R. Newlan 8
Appendix
" More attention would be desirable; too fond of writing."-" Would learn if he would."-" Learns very well, but he is hard to keep at it."-" A good boy, but hard to keep at his books."-" An extraordinary boy to learn figures."-"Industrious."-"Learns well; came very irregularly."-" Learns very well; an ex- traordinary boy; an excellent speller off the book."- " Smart boy; learns well; mischievous."-" When at school, learns."-" Learns well, but is fond of quar- relling."
Remarks of Joel Truesdell,*
WEST ALEXANDER, PENN.
It affords me a great deal of pleasure to be with you on this anniversary occasion. My memory car- ries me back nearly sixty years at least. I believe that I am the oldest person now living in this vicinity who was born in Claysville-this church being but two years older than myself. I remember some of the first members of this church, the first elders and their successors to the present time. I remember Rev. Thomas Hoge very well; heard him preach when I was a boy not more than six years old.
The first church building, as you are all aware, was a very plain one. Many of the seats were without backs, and the pulpit was unpainted. I attended the Sunday- school in this old building at a very early age. The
* The copy for this interesting address was received too late for proper classification.
13
185
Appendix
late Joseph Donahey led the singing. His father was, perhaps, the superintendent; at any rate he was present in some capacity. We recited Scripture and received blue and red tickets-for ten blue tickets we received a red one.
I remember when the bricks for the present building were made. My father had the contract for building it, as Dr. Birch has told you-and just now I want to thank him for the tribute he has paid him, which I know he deserved. Thomas Gourley made the bricks on the lot north of the alley running east and west. This lot is on what now constitutes the new extension. I think the kiln was located on the pres- ent Greene Street. I remember-while this kiln of brick was being made-of going out to Mr. Gourley's and staying all night. After supper I was put to bed with one of the boys and slept the sleep of the just. Many of you may remember the humble log house in which Mr. G. lived. The older members of this church will remember that slaves bought in Virginia and Maryland were taken through this region to the South for sale. When a young boy, as I remember, I heard of two slaves who were handcuffed together and who had made their escape. The story was told that Mr. Gourley saw them, broke their handcuffs and sent them on their way to liberty. I believe this to be true as I have never heard it contradicted. A reward that had been offered was no inducement to Mr. Gourley to assist in their return. These scenes are happily no more witnessed.
Dr. Birch received to-day a letter from Mrs. B. F.
186
Appendix
Jones, of Pittsburgh, which I now read to you. The Jones family was one of the early families of Claysville. B. F. Jones will be remembered as the Chairman of the National Committee during the campaign when Mr. Blaine was a candidate for President. The Jones family and that of my father were always on the most intimate terms. Jacob Jones, the father, lived to be over ninety years of age, his wife having died some years before. Of seven sons of Jacob Jones only two are now living-General G. A. Jones, of Mount Vernon, O., and B. F. Jones, of Pittsburgh, before mentioned. Mrs. Frazier, the oldest daughter, is liv- ing at Beaver, Penn., and perhaps other daughters are living.
I will omit saying anything about the successors of Mr. Hoge, as Dr. Birch has told you all that I know. I have heard them all preach.
I note with pleasure the many young people of this church who have taken an active part in making this anniversary a success. Two generations have passed away during my remembrance, and the mantles of the departed ones must rest on your shoulders. And may God give you grace to perform your duty in such a manner as will redound to His glory and the good of the church. I may say of this church that I have known it in adversity and in prosperity. I believe that God has always been with you and is still with you, and if you are faithful in duty to Him, He will abide with you unto the end.
And now my prayer is that " Peace may be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces." " That your sons may be as plants grown up in their youth;
187
Appendix
that your daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace; and that you may al- ways be that people whose God is the Lord."
KEITHSBURG, MERCER COUNTY, ILL. September 19, 1895.
Messrs. Irwin, T. B. Craig, Sr., T. G. Noble, and others, Committee of Invitation.
Claysville, Washington Co., Penn.
My dear Brethren :- Your kind invitation to your anniversary occasion received. In response would say that it would afford me supreme delight to be present with you, and bear some humble part by presence and word, in your festivities in planting the seventy-fifth milestone in the pathway of the grand old church by which the loving Master has led you, "lo, these many years," but absence from home, the long interval of distance, expense, and the pressure of business and work in this, my new and only field of missionary labor (having recently come on the field), deny me, at this time, a pleasure, under other circumstances, I should certainly enjoy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.