USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 29
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From that time forward separate organizations existed, each congrega- tion occupying the building every alternate Sunday. Mr. Zeigler ministered to the Lutherans for six or seven years, after which a state of disorganization began to exist in both congregations, brought about by some independent preachers, among whom were Revs. Ritter. Ablee and Claraluna. About 1856 Rev. Bierdemann reorganized the Lutheran Church and served the congrega- tion until his death, in 1869. In the spring of 1866 the Lutherans purchased the interest which the Reformed congregation had in the building, and the latter erected a house for themselves. Since Mr. Bierdemann's death the church has been in charge of the following ministers: J. G. Behen, G. A. Bruegel, W. F. Deiss, George Kittle, Powell Doepken. John Schmidt, Rev. Fickeisen, Henry Peters and Joseph Orr. A lot was purchased on Park Ave- nue, near Baldwin, and on November 19, 1893, the corner-stone of the present
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handsome brick edifice was laid. The building was completed during the fol- lowing year at a cost of about $8,000, and was dedicated July 4, 1894. Ser- vices are held alternately in German and English.
St. Paul's Reformed Church .- As early as 1818 Philip Zeiser, a minister of the German Reformed Church, traveled through northwestern Pennsyl- vania on foot, preaching and forming churches at different points in Crawford County. In Meadville the Germans of the Reformed and Lutheran faiths worshiped together for many years, and were usually ministered to by the same preachers. In 1847 they purchased a lot on Pine Street, on which they erected a frame church, at a cost of about $1,800, each denomination contrib- uting an equal share of the expense. Both denominations had independent organizations, using the church on alternate Sundays. The Reformed Church had, however, been organized five years before. Benjamin Boyer, who, with Jacob Zeigler of the Lutheran Church, officiated at the dedication ceremony on December 19, 1847, was the first pastor, and served from 1847 to 1850. He was succeeded by D. B. Ernst, who remained until 1854. After Mr. Ernst a number of independent preachers ministered to both congregations, and a general disorganization took place. In 1859 D. D. Leberman, a regular Re- formed minister, reorganized the Reformed congregation, receiving for his first year's salary the sum of $53-75. Mr. Leberman served until 1865. when he was succeeded by John W. Ebinghaus.
Early in 1866 the Reformed congregation sold their interest in the old church to the Lutherans, and during the year erected a brick building on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and Poplar Street. The church and ground cost $12,000, and the building, which has a seating capacity of 600, was dedi- cated in the spring of 1867. Soon after the dedication a portion of the con- gregation seceded, on account of their opposition to English sermons, and or- ganized an Independent German Reformed Church. After this an occasional sermon was preached in German until 1889. since when they have been only in English. In July, 1867, Mr. Ebinghaus was succeeded by D. D. Leberman, who continued as pastor for nineteen years. He was succeeded in 1886 by F. B. Hahn, and was followed in 1889 by Thomas S. Land, who remained about six years. A. M. Schaffner, the present pastor, has served the congre- gation faithfully and acceptably during the past three years. In the winter of 1879-80 a frame Sunday-school chapel was erected close to the church at a total cost of $1.400.
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The First Evangelical Protestant Church was organized in 1867 by about fifty of the congregation of St. Paul's Reformed Church, who seceded from the latter because of the preference shown for the English language in the services. The seceders wanted the services conducted in German, and for that purpose established the present church, in 1868 erecting a frame building on the northwest corner of South Main and Poplar Streets, at a total expense of about $4,500. In the spring of 1869 the church was incorporated as the "In- dependent German Reformed Congregation," but changed to its present title under the pastorate of G. F. Kauffmann. The first pastor was Robert Koch- ler, who acceptably filled the position until his death, in 1870. G. F. Kauff- inann was the next pastor, and he has been succeeded by A. Gillis, Jacob Blass and P. Krauss, the present pastor. During the term of service of the latter a handsome brick building has been erected on the lot originally occupied, and the position of the church much strengthened in the community.
The German Lutheran Church occupies a small frame building on the eastern side of Liberty Street. It was organized by members of the Lutheran Church who objected to the use of English in the services, and therefore or- ganized an independent society. The congregation is small, J. G. Trautman, the present pastor, holding services every two weeks.
St. Agatha's Catholic Church (German) .- The absence of a Catholic church in Meadville during its early history deterred the members of that faith from settling here in larger numbers, and we therefore find that nearly all the first Catholics located in the northern or eastern portions of the county during the last decade of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth. The few who settled here, in the absence of a Catholic priest to minister to the spiritual wants of their children, soon united with other denominations or removed from the town. In 1845 Mark de la Roque, pastor of St. Hyppo- lytas Church at Frenchtown, visited Meadville, where there were then but two Catholic families, George and Patrick Riordan and George and Conrad Fish- er, who attended services at Frenchtown, of which Meadville was then a mis- sion. Within a few years a number of others located in the borough, and in February, 1849, an organization was effected, under the name of St. Agatha's Church, by Nicholas Steinbacher, a Jesuit missionary.
Mass was celebrated at private houses until the completion of the frame building on the northwest corner of Pine and Liberty Streets. The corner- stone of that structure, which was the cradle of both St. Bridget's and St.
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Agatha's churches, was laid by Father Steinbacher on September 25, 1849, and the building was completed and dedicated on August 10, 1850. Joseph Hartman was the first regular pastor of the little congregation, serving from 1850 to 1851, when Peter Lechner became pastor. The pastors since then have been : Father Schifferer, 1851; Anton Reck, 1851-64; Peter Kline, 1865-66; Anton Reck, 1866-68: Michael J. Decker, 1868-71; George Meyer, 1871-78; Melchoir Appel, 1878-83; Anton Reck, 1883; and Father Franz Winter from 1883 to the present.
The congregation grew rapidly through the passing years, and in 1862 the English-speaking portion, who did not understand the German language, organized St. Bridget's church. In a few years the old frame building was too small to accommodate the increasing flock, and on the 8th of August, 1869, the corner-stone of the present imposing brick edifice on the northeast corner of South Main and Pine Streets was laid by the Right Reverend To- bias Mullen, assisted by the pastor, Father Decker, and other priests of the diocese. The building was completed under the pastorate of Father Meyer, at a total expense of $60,000, and dedicated by Bishop Mullen October 19. 1873. It is one of the finest church edifices in Meadville, is handsomely fres- coed throughout the interior, and has a seating capacity of over one thou- sand. St. Agatha's Church embraces 250 families, or about twelve hundred souls, and has also a flourishing Sunday-school. The St. Agatha's cemetery, which adjoins Greendale, contains three acres, and was purchased by Father Reck in 1856 at a cost of $375.
In 1865 Father Kline established the parish school. He erected a one- story frame building next to the church, and employed lay teachers to con- duct the school, but the Sisters of St. Joseph were finally engaged as assist- ants. When the new church was opened in 1873 the old frame church was converted into a schoolhouse. In 1884 Father Winter secured a male teacher to take charge of the larger boys, while two Sisters looked after the other classes. Besides the usual branches taught in the public schools, the children are carefully instructed in the divine precepts of religion, secular and reli- gious instruction thus going hand in hand. A substantial parsonage was built in 1889-90 in the rear of the church at a cost of $4,000; and in 1894 the old Trinity Lutheran Church, on Pine Street, was purchased for $1,000, to be added to the school buildings. Since then an unique metal steeple, 150 feet in height, has been placed on St. Agatha's Church, at a cost of $2,800.
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St. Bridget's Catholic Church .- All the Catholics in this vicinity belonged to St. Agatha's Church until the spring of 1862, when St. Bridget's was or- ganized by the English-speaking Catholics of the community. Some of the original members were John Riordan, Thomas McGuigan, James O'Connor, Walter Furlong, Richard Whalen and Thomas Breen, with their families. In May, 1862, Thomas McGuigan and James O'Connor, on behalf of the con- gregation, rented the building known as "Divinity Hall," which was after- wards purchased for the sum of $750. It was dedicated by Bishop Young, of Erie, and the congregation placed under the charge of Mark de la Roque, of Frenchtown. It was principally attended by his assistant, Father Gilibarti. who finally in 1863 was appointed resident pastor. An influx of English- speaking Catholics, in 1862, swelled the numbers of the little congregation. In 1864 two Franciscan Fathers, James Titta and Samuel Fayella, of Allegany College, near Olean, N. Y., conceived the idea of founding a Catholic institution of learning at Meadville, and were given charge of St. Bridget's Church. Their enterprise did not succeed, however, and they removed from the town. During their pastorate they bought a large two-story brick house on North Main Street for a pastoral residence, which, with their other prop- erty, was sold at the time of their removal.
In 1865 Father de la Roque again took charge of St. Bridget's, and was settled here as resident pastor. Three years later he was placed in charge of St. Joseph's Church, at Warren, Pa., and afterwards officiated at Titusville. Early in 1866 Father de la Roque purchased the old Methodist Church and parsonage on Arch Street, near the corner of Liberty, for the sum of $7,000. It was fitted up and dedicated the same year by Bishop Domenee, of Pitts- burg. The old property on Center Street was then utilized for school pur- poses, but was subsequently sold for the original purchase money. James Perry was assistant in 1865 and James Haley in 1866. The latter was suc- ceeded by John L. Finucane, who became pastor in 1868. He was a native of Ireland and was a well-known lecturer and an eminent pulpit orator. He served as pastor of St. Bridget's until June, 1871, when he was succeeded by John L. Madigan, also a native of Ireland. During his pastorate a school building was erected.
In March, 1874, Father James J. Dunn became pastor of St. Bridget's and furnished and opened a school in the following September. In 1877 he purchased the lot on the northwest corner of Arch and Liberty Streets for
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$1.500, and moved the old parsonage on to it. The time had now come when St. Bridget's needed a new church; and on Sunday, August 11, 1878, the corner-stone of the present beautiful brick edifice was laid by the Right Rev- erend Tobias Mullen, of Erie, in the presence of a large concourse of people, who had gathered from every portion of the county to witness the impressive ceremonies. It was carried to completion, and dedicated November 24, 1881. by Bishop Mullen, assisted by a large number of priests of the diocese, and Bishop Gilmour, of Cleveland, Ohio, who preached the dedicatory sermon. The church cost complete about $15,000, and has a seating capacity of 600. The church is beautifully decorated with scenes from the Bible, the frescoing being such as to compare favorably with the finer churches of metropolitan cities. A handsome brick parsonage was erected in 1891 at a cost of $7,000, and the church and premises have recently been greatly improved.
Father Dunn, to whose indefatigable labors is due the rearing of the hand- some structure dedicated to the service of God, was born in Dublin County, Ireland, June 10, 1841. He came to Baltimore in 1849, and resided there until 1857, when he entered Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg. Md .. where he was graduated in June, 1863, with the degrees of A. B. and A. M. In September of the same year he entered the Theological Seminary attached to the college in order to prepare for the priesthood, meanwhile teaching Latin and Greek in the college. He was ordained as a priest in October, 1866, but remained in the college during the succeeding year as professor of Latin and Greek, after which he went to Oil City as assistant priest in St. Joseph's Church. In 1868 he went to Petroleum Center, where he remained until his removal to Meadville, in 1874. He still officiates as pastor of St. Bridget's Church, which embraces about 800 souls.
St. Bridget's cemetery is located a short distance south of Meadville, and consists of a handsome plot of five acres. It was purchased in 1866 by Father de la Roque, at a cost of $500. The parish school had its inception in 1866, being opened in the old building on Center Street. and taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph for three or four years. Father Madigan erected a two-story frame schoolhouse in the rear of St. Bridget's Church in 1873, which was fur- nished and opened by Father Dunn in September, 1874. The attendance is considerable, and besides the usual branches taught in the public schools, the course of instruction embraces a thorough religious training.
The Meadville Hebrew Society was organized in 1866, and holds its
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services in the Shryock block, on Water Street. The society has had several ministers and teachers, the Rev. Victor Caro being the most prominent. The membership was at one time considerable, but has been much reduced by re- movals from the city. The Hebrews own a small cemetery southwest of Greendale.
The Park Avenue Congregational Church was organized on May 18, 1881, by the withdrawal of the majority of the congregation and 132 of the imembers of the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville, "who, for conscience sake, felt it to be their duty to renounce the Presbyterian form of church government." The church was recognized by an ecclesiastical council com- posed of Congregational ministers from Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, which met October 12. 1881, when James G. Carnachan, LL. D., who for twelve years had been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, was installed as pastor of the new organization. Until February, 1884, the congregation worshiped in Library Hall, when, having purchased the lot on the corner of Chestnut Street and Park Avenue, it entered upon the occupancy of its chapel. which was built at a cost of over $6,000, and was dedicated free of debt on Feb- ruary 3, 1884. The chapel is conceded to be one of the finest edifices of its kind in this portion of the State.
A leasehold on the building occupying the church lot delayed somewhat the erection of the church proper, but as soon as this had expired the main building was erected, the whole cost being more than $26,000. On October 2, 1887, it was consecrated in the presence of an immense audience by G. F. Wright, D. D. It is a fine brick structure, handsomely finished and furnished in the interior, and is a credit to Meadville progressiveness. The organ is one of the finest in the city, having 1,388 pipes. Dr. Carnachan, under whose ministration the church was founded, served as pastor until 1889, when he was succeeded by Ward T. Sutherland. He remained until 1894, when R. R. Davies was placed in charge. He was succeeded in 1897 by Clinton W. Wilson, the present pastor. The Park Avenue Church, as it is usually called, has a membership of about three hundred, and is one of the most flourishing of Meadville's churches. It has a prosperous Sunday-school, and is promi- nent in all branches of church work.
CHAPTER IV. TITUSVILLE.
BY M. N. ALLEN.
N EAR the close of the eighteenth century two stalwart men, equipped as surveyors, appeared in the southeastern part of Crawford County, in the state of Pennsylvania. They were in the employ of the Holland Land Company, in making surveys of the company's lands in Crawford and adjacent counties. The country here was covered by primitive forests, a dense wilderness, where the foot of a white man had very rarely, if ever, trod before. The Seneca Indians, under the celebrated chief, Cornplanter, hunted in this wilderness, where game existed in abundance. At this time the Indians in the eastern part of the county were apparently more friendly to the whites than were their brothers farther west.
The two surveyors traveled in an emigrant wagon, drawn by a yoke of oxen. The wagon, in which the men lodged at night, was roofed with canvas. Attached to the train was a cow which supplied the men with milk. Panthers and other dangerous beasts of prey prowled through the wilderness, and the surveyors, before retiring to their cot in the wagon for rest at night, fastened their team near at hand, built a large smouldering fire, which would last until morning, and scattered upon the fire asafetida, whose odors frightened or disgusted the savage beasts, and kept them at a safe distance throughout the night.
These two surveyors came to a beautiful sloping plain, on which now rests the city of Titusville. They were at once charmed by the location. Virgin forests, with giant trees, rising with straight trunks and pointing with tapering spires to the skies; birds of song trilling their notes from every direction ; pheasants abounding everywhere, showing little or no fear of the strangers, and many other things local conspired to attract the newcomers and fasten them to the spot. They were not long in selecting the plain and driving stakes for their future homes. The names of these two men were respectively Jonathan Titus and Samuel Kerr.
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The men spent their first night, and perhaps every other night during their stay here at that time, by the side of a high bank, situated not far from the present coal office of Mr. Edwards. On this spot Jonathan Titus located his home, where he continued to reside until his death, over sixty years after - ward. This homestead continued in the possession of the Titus family until destroyed by fire in March, 1866, nine years after the death of its distinguished founder. The large tracts of land selected by Kerr and Titus for their re- spective occupancy joined each other.
Kerr fixed his home on the south side of the street now known as Central Avenue, between Drake and Kerr streets. Here he first built an humble cabin, but afterward a long, two-story house, where he continued to live until late in life, and where he raised a large family of children. This house, a few years ago, was purchased, with the lot on which it stood, by Mr. Junius Harris, who cut this building in two, and, swinging the parts around so as to front with their ends to the street, converted them into two tenement houses.
As the names of Samuel Kerr and Jonathan Titus will appear many times in these pages, as the first two pioneer settlers in eastern Crawford, it is weil to give here a genealogical sketch relating respectively to the two men. The sketch, giving the history of the Titus family, was written about a half a century ago by Mrs. Olivia Moore, as dictated personally by her father, and this paper has been sacredly kept by Mrs. Moore ever since. Mrs. Moore, now of this city, is the only surviving child of Jonathan Titus, and to her especially the writer is indebted for much interesting and highly valuable information. It is proper, also, to remark in this connection that the two sketches about to be presented contain much of importance which never be- fore has seen the light in public print. The two papers have also led to the discovery of other important information which will be read for the first time in these pages.
The sketch dictated by Jonathan Titus, giving the genealogy of his family. is as follows :
"Peter Titus emigrated from Germany with three brothers, and settled first on Staten Island, about the middle of the eighteenth century. A few years afterward he moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is supposed he married Mary Williams before leaving Staten Island, or soon after his arrival at Carlisle. His family consisted of three sons, John, Daniel and Peter, and
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three daughters, Olivia, Mary and Sarah. John married and had a family of eighteen children. Daniel married and had seven or eight children. Peter married Jane Kerr in the year 1766. He had two sons, Jonathan and Daniel. and four daughters, Ruth, Fanny, Olivia and Susan. Jonathan Titus married Mary Martin on May 10, 1804, of Turtle Creek. Pennsylvania, living near Pittsburg. They had born to them three sons and six daughters. The names of the sons were: Peter Augustus, Maxwell and John Martin. The daugh- ters were Susan Jane, Sarah Ann, Lavinia, who died at the age of three years ; Lavinia (named after the deceased ), Mary Lewis, who died aged one year and eight months, and Olivia. Susan Jane married Joseph L. Chase; Sarah Ann married Edward H. Chase; Lavinia married Parker McDowell and Olivia married John Moore. The three sons all died without issue."
Mr. Titus also says parenthetically that Olivia, daughter of the first Peter Titus, married a Mr. Evans; Mary, the second daughter, married a Mr. Clawson; and Sarah, the third daughter, married Midian Garwood, but nothing more was known by him concerning the three.
While Mr. Titus says that the first Peter Titus emigrated from Germany. it is not doubted that this ancestor was a native of Holland. It seems not unlikely that he included Holland as a part of Germany. Mary Martin. the wife of Jonathan Titus, was the daughter of John Martin and Susan ( McDowell) Martin, the sister of Alexander McDowell, agent of the Holland Land Company at Franklin, Pennsylvania. Parker McDowell, who married Lavinia Titus, as stated above, was a son of Alexander McDowell, aforesaid. He was therefore the first cousin of Mary ( Martin) Titus, the mother of his wife. It is interesting to note the repetition of family names in genealogical descent. Peter Wilson, now deceased, the man who aided Drake in sinking the first oil well, was related by blood to Jonathan Titus, as will be hereafter shown. Beginning with the children of the first Peter Titus, the names of Sarah and Olivia are found in three successive generations. Peter Titus Witherop, now of Titusville, who writes his name P. T. Witherop, was named after his great-grandfather, the father of Jonathan Titus. Susan Jane, the oldest daughter of Jonathan Titus, was probably named after her two grand- mothers, Susan (McDowell) Martin, and Jane (Kerr) Titus; or the name Susan may have been adopted from hier father's sister, Susan Titus.
The other genealogical paper, that relating to the Kerr family, will now be given. It was written by Samuel Kerr himself, in the last years of his
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life, and it is now in the possession of his sole surviving son, Mr. Marshall Kerr, now residing in Cherrytree Township, Venango County, at the age of seventy-two. This paper shows good scholarship for one whose early years were all spent in Pennsylvania woods. Samuel Kerr was doubtless a thor- oughly self-educated man. This is the account, as it appears in Mr. Kerr's own handwriting :
"My father, James Kerr, was born in Ireland, whence he emigrated for America. He first settled in about 1732 in Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, at about the age of thirty. There he married a woman named Stewart, who died there after having borne to him ten children. Not long after her decease he married my mother. Susanna Stevenson, by whom he had two sons and one daughter, of whom I was the youngest. My sister died in childhood. My father moved from Lancaster County about the year 1766, and, after stopping a few months in Canogocheague settlement, where he buried my mother, he continued his course westward to a place on the Juniata River, now in the bounds of Huntington County, where he com- menced a settlement, on a tract of land near to what was called Franks- town, an old town, where he continued to reside until the Indians invaded that neighborhood, when his children all left him alone, he utterly refusing to leave his own house, and fled to Cambria County. This was in December, 1777. He continued alone in his house in very feeble health until some time in January, when he was taken to Fitter's Fort, where he soon afterward died. My father was an elder of the Presbyterian church for about forty years. He was a man of temperate and industrious habits, and he was accounted by all his connections and acquaintances an honest man and sin- cere Christian."
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