USA > Pennsylvania > The Historical journal : a quarterly record of local history and genealogy devoted principally to Northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 32
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NEW COLUMBIA CHURCH .- This church was organized June 15th, 1825. It was included in the extensive field belonging to the Briar Creek Church, which the Rev. Asa Dunham so often supplied previous to 1816, has always been feeble, irregularly sup- plied and inactive. Several times it has tried to maintain a pastor in connection with other charges, but soon became weary of the effort. Once or twice revivals have occurred in it which seemed to promise a better future, but have soon died out and left it stag- nant. Its great sin seems to be the absence of the spirit of giving to the support of the Lord's work. Its existence is precarious. In 1886 it reported to Presbytery thirty members and no gifts to benevolent objects.
SUGARLOAF CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1859. It is located somewhere in the vicinity of the old-time Briar Creek Church territory. It is not reported on the minutes of Presbytery of recent years and may be regarded as extinct, or, perhaps, has become identified with Raven's Creek Church, which reports seventeen members and a Sabbath School of fifty members, with about $73 raised for religious purposes in 1886.
ROHRSBURG CHURCH. - This church was organized in 1847. It reported, in 1886, five elders. thirty-seven communicants, eighty- eight members in its Sabbath School, and raised about $136 for all religious purposes.
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MOUNT CARMEL CHURCH .- This church was organized in April, 1871. It no longer appears in our Presbyterial reports, and seems to have been handed over to the Luzerne Presbytery. Presbyter- ianism seems not to have flourished in the territory covered by the Old Briar Creek congregation to the extent it has in other sections of the Presbytery. There have been several churches organized on this ground, but, excepting Bloomsburg and Berwick. perhaps we may now add Orangeville, none are self-sustaining. The
old mother church itself seems to be so burdened with the infirm- ities, and enfeebled by the decrepitude of age, that she can only keep herself on her feet by leaning on the Presbytery as a staff; and her daughters, with the above exceptions. are afflicted with a sickly and declining life that can only be preserved by continued Presbyterial nourishing. Whatever the cause of this condition of things may be, it would seem to furnish a strong argument in favor of that growing modern movement towards denominational union among Protestants, even to the extent of organic unity which would coalesce them all into one body. Here is a large district of country dotted over with churches of various names and denominational peculiarities, all of them feeble and inefficient. Their adherents are only casually, and often very indifferently supplied with the preaching of the gospel and the administration of its ordinances; whereas, if they were all united in one church, they could support a competent and efficient ministry, without burdening their finan- cial ability and dissipating their well-meant efforts to promote religious instruction in the community.
DERRY CHURCH .- This church was probably organized by the Donegal Presbytery not later than 1792 or 1794. It is mentioned in the records of the Presbytery. of Carlisle, which commenced its existence in 1786. as though it had existed before the Presbytery itself. Like all the older churches of the Presbytery, the date of its organization and its early history are somewhat mythical. We find no mention of it, worthy of notice, till the Rev. John B. Pat- terson was called to and installed over it, in conjunction with Mahoning, in 1799. He continued in this united charge till 1831, when the pastoral relation between him and the Mahoning Church was dissolved. Henceforth he devoted all his time to, the Derry Church, where he labored successfully till he died in 1843, aged
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about 71 years. Like Asa Dunham, he also took part in the Revolutionary war as a common soldier. His life and character are described in another part of this history.
In Mr. Patterson's day the Derry congregation was one of the largest in the Presbytery. During the ministry of his immediate successor, Mr. Rittenhouse, it still retained its large numbers, but after his death, which took place very suddenly as he was passing through the church door on a Saturday when services were being held preparatory to communion, the congregation began to decline from various causes, the chief of which, perhaps, was the removal of Presbyterian families from the community. At the present time it is but the shadow of its former self. Many sacred memories cluster around this old church, and from it some good and useful men have gone out to serve the Church and the Nation. Since Mr. Rittenhouse's death it has had a number of pastors and supplies, and finds it difficult to sustain a pastor for the half of his time.
WASHINGTONVILLE CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1859. It is an offshoot of the Derry Church; was included within its territory, and its natural affinity is with Derry, hence it has ever since its organization been united with Derry in the support of a pastor-neither of them being able to maintain the regular ininis- trations of the gospel alone, and both together affording a meagre and irregular support when united. It seems to have been the practice of the Presbytery of Northumberland, from its earliest days, to multiply church organizations by dividing up the territory covered by the original churches committed to its care, thus weak- ening the mother church, and burdening its roll with a large num- ber of feeble congregations requiring to be fostered by outside aid. and in many cases ceasing to exist after years of struggle and the expenditure of large sums of missionary money. It is a doubtful policy. It tends to dissipate the pecuniary ability of the people · of these regions to support the gospel, multiplies their financial burdens, and raises up antagonizing interests which produce jeal- ousies and often injurious competition. Whereas, if they would preserve the integrity of their organizations and establish preach- ing stations at convenient points in their large territories, they would concentrate the power of the people to support and propa- gate the gospel. If the matter were carefully inquired into, it
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would probably be found that the number of these organizations above referred to, which have died out and utterly disappeared, together with those still on the roll of the Presbytery which are in a languishing and dying state, exceeds the whole number of churches now under its care. It is idle to say that Presbyterianism has not lost ground by this policy, for the people of many of these dead churches have identified themselves with other denominations from the sheer hopelessness of the effort to preserve their own organizations. In some cases the population may so shift its position as to make it expedient to remove the main church build- ing to another part of the field, or it may concentrate at a certain point in sufficient numbers to occupy all the time and efforts of one pastor. In such cases why not preserve the one organization by a system of assistants or co-pastors, and thus still care for the inter- ests of the whole field?
SHILOH, OR ST. MARY'S CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1867. It has not had a vigorous or progressive existence, nor could such be expected from the nature of its case. Its locality is in a Roman Catholic community-a small town in Elk County, Pa., organized by a Catholic proprietary about the time the Philadel- phia and Erie railroad was built through that region. There are, at this date, two Roman Catholic churches in the place, a convent and other Catholic institutions. It is the centre of a small coal mining interest, and the Presbyterian church depends on the Scotch and Welsh miners and the few Protestant business men drawn there by the mining operations for its material and support. It is legitimately missionary ground, and should be occupied by an able and efficient pastor. The earliest pioneer of Presbyterianism in this place was the late Rev. David Hull. He was sent by the Presbytery to missionate along the line of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad about 1865 or 1866. He organized the church at St. Mary's and succeeded in erecting the church building with funds collected among the churches of the Presbytery and in Phil- adelphia, with a small amount from the field itself. They have a creditable and substantial church building. Mr. Hull was suc- ceeded by the Rev. John B. Rendall, now president of the Lincoln University, who labored here in connection with Renovo and Em- porium as a domestic missionary for a year or more, and wrought a
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good work. The late Revs. Messrs. Sturges, James D. Reardon and Robert White, as pastors, also labored there. The pastor who preceded the present occupant of the pulpit was the Rev. S. T. Thompson, who labored with much energy and success till failing health compelled him to retreat from the field. The strong staff and main support of this church was the late Elder Joseph Patton. superintendent of the mining operations in the vicinity, who de- serves great credit for the energy and wisdom with which he looked after its interests.
EMPORIUM CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1867. It was a result of the same missionary effort, under the auspices of the Presbytery, that originated the Shiloh, or St. Mary's Church. The same missionaries organized and fostered it in the early days of its history. This church has never been self-sustaining, and has had a variable existence. It is located in the county seat of Cam- eron County, but the population of the town is small, the surround- ing country much broken, and not very productive, and the people poor. It is possible that there may yet be found beneath the surface of this rough and mountainous country a deposit of wealth which will cheer and give importance to this feeble and struggling church.
RENOVO CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1866, with eleven members and one elder. It was one of the fruits of the same Presbyterial missionary effort that gave existence to the two preceding organizations. The same missionaries in their turn oc- cupied the ground in the incipiency of the enterprise, but the church was organized. and the building commenced during the administration of Mr. Sturges, who was received into the Presby- tery from the Classis of Raritan. Mr. Sturges ministry at Renovo was not a success. The infant church became overwhelmed with disasters of one sort or another, and its financial affairs almost in- extricably confused. It was finally involved in a law suit with Mr. Sturges, and its prospects for a season were very gloomy and dis- couraging. The Presbytery pledged itself for one-half of the missionary's promised salary, which it promptly paid. The other half he was to collect on the ground, which he agreed to do, after a general consultation with the people. The amount it was thought could easily be raised, though no positive pledge was given. The
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church had not yet been organized, though the most of the material for a house of worship had been collected by the missionary, who was authorized by the Presbytery to visit its churches for the pur- pose of raising means for its erection; but before Mr. Sturges inade an effort to collect his part of the salary which was to come from the people, he became so offensive to them that they would not attend his services nor pay any part of the money that was ex- pected of them. After the church became organized by the election of trustees and other officers, Mr. Sturges sued for the unpaid half of his salary, and the court charged the jury that as this man had done the work for which he had been employed he was entitled to his pay, and the church was compelled to pay it. After much anxious effort on the part of the little organization to raise the means to meet this judgment, through the generous kind- ness of James McCorinic, Esq., of Harrisburg, who loaned them the necessary amount at a low rate of interest and on long time, they were enabled to pay it off. The ladies of the little church. by their indefatigable industry, together with a generous gift from Mr. McCormic, liquidated the indebtedness in the course of a few years, since which there has been a commendable progress in all the elements of church strength and usefulness. Under the min- istry of its present able and industrious pastor, the Rev. John D. Cook, the church has largely increased in numbers and financial ability, and fills an important place in that growing and energetic community. It is now self-sustaining, has a substantial and com- modious church edifice. a harmonious congregation and a large Sabbath School.
NORTH POINT CHURCH .- A committee to organize a church at this place reported at the April meeting of Presbytery, in 1864, the organization of this church, with twelve members and two elders. In 1867 it was " resolved that the congregations worshiping at North Point and Renovo be known upon our records as the Church of North Point and Renovo, inasmuch as there have never been two organizations." At the present time North Point is dropped from the records and Renovo is retained. North Point is but a short distance from Renovo, and having no prospects of much future enlargement, should be cared for as an out-station of that church .*
*See minutes of 1864, pages 332, 339 and 404.
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HYNER'S RUN CHURCH .- This church was organized about the time of the organization of North Point, and recommended to the Board of Church Extension for aid in erecting a building. but has passed from the annual records of Presbytery, as has also the church organized in 1866, at Shinstown, which also received aid from the same board.
THE FIRST CHURCH OF WILLIAMSPORT .- This church was organ- ized February 23d, 1833. Previous to this date the Presbyterian inhabitants of the town worshiped at Newberry with the Lycoming Church. The town of Williamsport was laid out in 1795, as the seat of justice for Lycoming County, at the time the county was organized. For thirty-eight years after the town was incorporated the old Lycoming Church continued to be the Mount Zion to which its Presbyterian population, and that of its vicinity, went up to worship. The people of that early day were strangers to that nervous energy which characterizes the inhabitants of the present day-leaping and dashing onward in the business enterprises of life, as if there were to be no future opportunities for progress, or the acquisition of the means of living. They moved forward slowly, and were satisfied with moderate results. Thirty-eight years would seem a long time in these modern days for the Presby- terians of a county town to await a church organization, especially if the largest part of the population were of their creed.
The Rev. Daniel M. Barber was appointed, by Presbytery, chairman of the committee to organize a church at Williamsport, and he reported, at the date above mentioned, an organization with thirty-eight members, who were received chiefly from Lycoming Church, and the following elders, viz .: Alexander Sloan. Andrew D. Hepburn, John Torbert and John B. Hall. The services of ordination were held in an old stone church on Third Street, where the Reformed Church now stands, owned by the German Luth- erans and the Reformed, which the Presbyterians had helped to complete on the condition that they should have the privilege of using it when the owners did not need the use of it. From 1833 to 1837 the Revs. D. M. Barber, Phineas B. Marr and G. G. Shed- den supplied the pulpit of the newly organized church. and in the fall of 1837 the Rev. J. P. Hudson was called to be its pastor, who remained with them in that capacity three years. In 1841 the
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church began to erect its first building, and finished it the ensuing „ year. This building was destroyed by fire in April, 1849, and the one erected in its stead, on the same site, was in like manner de- stroved in 1859. After this second disaster it was immediately , rebuilt and occupied in the ensuing October by the Synod of Phil- adelphia, which had appointed its meeting there before the fire : took place. The pastors of this church to the present time have been the Revs. J. P. Hudson, E. B. Bradbury, Alexander Heberton,
William Simonton, William A. Kerr, George F. Cain and S. E. Webster, D. D., the present incumbent, whose wise and indefati- gable efforts have been blessed with wonderful success. Mr. Web- ster was installed in October, 1880, and immediately entered on the work of his ministry with his characteristic energy. His fervent zeal and persuasive pulpit efforts have awakened an intenser spiritual life in the people; while under his industrious and efficient leadership they have become a congregation of wil- ling workers, always ready to co-operate with their pastor in every good work. In May, 1884, they completed and dedicated a new and splendid church edifice, with all the modern arrangements and appliances for church work, which is surpassed by none in the largest towns of the interior of Pennsylvania. In the seven years Dr. Webster has been pastor of this church there have been 253 persons added to its membership, and its benevolent contributions have largely increased. The congregation also maintains and carries on with vigor and success, a mission Sabbath School in the upper part of the city, which promises to become the nucleus of a church for that district. As has been noticed in another part of this history, this church has not been without its trials and dis- couragements, but the hand of a gracious providence led it safely through the wilderness and brought it at last into a large and wealthy place. It has before it an inviting field, and every induce- ment to press forward in its good work with the sure promise from the Master whom they serve: "Them that honor me will I honor."
( CONCLUDED NEXT MONTH.)
ONE number more and the first volume of THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL will be completed. The last number will contain the title page and index, when the volume will be ready for the binder. It will make a handsome and valuable book.
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WARRIOR RUN GRAVEYARD.
BY H. T. ECKERT.
O N a bleak March morning, with the snow and sleet struggling in fitful, angry gusts for mastery, in company with a friend we visited this widely known spot. Here, secluded and away from the busy haunts of men, rest those who in the past lived. loved, planned, executed, hated, avenged, fought. and, as we see recorded. died as all must till time shall be no more, and judging from the peaceful quiet, " After life's fitful fever they sleep well." Side by side the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the former marked by time-stained, mildewed slabs of granite and brown flag-stone, on which epitaphs "spelt by the unlettered muse" can scarcely be deciphered. Here sleep the Montgomerys, Armstrongs, Peipers, Wykoffs, Cooners, Vincents, Watsons and Bradys of Revolutionary fame. Now all heart burnings are at an end, and friend and foe, rich and poor, high and low, simple and proud, moulder, decay and are forgotten together.
The old Warrior Run Church, close by, sheltered by a grove of white oaks, seems to keep a peaceful and parental vigil over her former worshipers. How oft have her doors opened as the hushed throng filed slowly down her aisles in subdued quiet, awed by the awful presence of death, and listening with bated breath as the man of God solemnly reads: "I am the resurrection and the life; blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." "Be ye therefore ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." These and many other passages of hope, consolation and warning; and when infancy and childhood swelled the already overcrowded spot, and stricken parents in sombre robes of woe followed a darling- mayhap a first-born -- have heard the comforting words: " He is not dead but sleepeth; wherefore weep? He cannot come to us. but we can go to him." Such blessed passages have lifted the sinking hopes and poured balm on the wounded and heart-broken mourner.
In a far corner we are attracted by a heap of freshly dug earth, and winding our way through a wilderness of tombstones, stand by the side of a newly made grave, and, lost in solemn reverie, gaze into the narrow home of some one just gone to solve the old, yet always new, problem. While decp in thought, we are startled by a noise at the entrance gate, and looking up see the old sexton, with bent and trembling form, open them, and then for the first
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time we behold in the distance, on an eminence, the sombre cortege of death dragging its slow length along. As they enter and near the grave. we instinctively draw back, leaving room for those more near and dear. As the coffin is rested by the grave side, low heart-breaking wails of anguish burst forth from the already over- wept mourners. Then as the hollow rattle of clods on the coffin lid and "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" break the stillness, grief afresh breaks forth with a resistlessness that all have noticed, and as the hushed throng hangs on the prayer, "Hope springs exultant on triumphant wing," and grief is tempered by blessed hope. While the stricken family turn sadly and reluctantly away to the now desolate home, the sexton, with a business-like air, takes his spade, and humming some old tune long out of print, fills the grave. As the sleet is driving afresh in our face, we quietly leave this sadly interesting place, once more to mingle in the bustling world, till we ourselves are called to pay the debt of nature.
IT is frequently stated in newspapers and other publications that Lycoming County was erected in 1796. This is an error. Senator William Hepburn introduced the bill for the formation of Lycom- ing from Northumberland County in the winter of 1795. It passed both houses of the Legislature and was signed by Governor Thomas Mifflin, April 13th, 1795, and on the 18th of the same month it was recorded in Deed Book A, pages 1 and 2, by John Kidd, who was appointed by the Governor to open the books for the new county. Any one doubting this is requested to step into the office of the Register and Recorder in the Lycoming County Court House and examine the deed book. Following the record of the act erecting the county will be found the commissions of Samuel Wallis, William Hepburn, John Adlum and James Davidson. who were appointed by Governor Mifflin associate judges, to put the judicial machinery of the new county in operation. Their com- missions bear the same date of record as the act of organization. and they soon afterwards met at Jaysburg and organized by elect- ing William Hepburn president. So good an authority, apparently, as Smull's Legislative Handbook, falls into this common error and gives 1796 as the date when Lycoming was organized. THE HIS- TORICAL JOURNAL calls attention to this for the purpose of correcting an error which has gone so long without contradiction that it has crept into State publications.
THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
Two Dollars per Annum, in Advance. Single Numbers, Twenty Cents.
A monthly publication, devoted entirely to the preservation of scraps of local history in Northwestern Pennsylvania, with reference occasionally to statistics, finance and manufactures.
Address all letters and communications relating to literary matters, subscrip- tion or advertising to
JOHN F. MEGINNESS, Editor and Publisher, WILLIAMSPORT, PA.
WILLIAMSPORT, MARCH, 1888.
WILLIAMSPORT AND NEWBERRY POSTMASTERS.
Previous to the year 1799 the inhabitants of the West Branch Valley had to go to Northumberland for their mail matter. Al- though Muncy was a thriving town from a very early day, no post- office was established there until the year 1800.
The town of Javsburg was laid out for Jacob Latcha, proprietor, by William Ellis, deputy surveyor, in the year 1794, but never had a postoffice. The town of Williamsport was laid out by Joseph Williams, surveyor. for Michael Ross, proprietor, in 1796, and the first postoffice was established August 12th, 1799. The names of the successive postmasters of Williamsport, and the dates of their appointments, are shown below, as obtained from the records at Washington :
Samuel E. Grier. Appointed Aug. 12, 1799.
No date.
Hepburn MeClure.
May 18, 1839.
Joseph K. Frederick
July 1, 1841.
Joseph S. Titus.
66 Aug. 30, 1843.
Jeremiah J. Ayres ..
66 July 29, 1845.
Chauncey Donaldson.
66
May 8, 1849.
Charles Kalbus.
Jan. 6, 1852.
Jacob S. Maxwell
May 5, 1353.
Theodore Wright.
Jan. 12, 1855.
Thomas Throp
66 Sept. 3, 1855.
66
Re-appointed Feb. 21, 1856. 66 Feb. 21, 1860.
Henry Hughes.
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John R. Campbell
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