USA > Pennsylvania > The Historical journal : a quarterly record of local history and genealogy devoted principally to Northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 35
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Bryson was called to the united charge of Chillisquaque and Warrior Run, and he preached occasionally at Mahoning till a pastor was secured. 'The town of Danville was laid out in 1792, by Daniel Montgomery, a son of the Gen. William Montgomery who in 1776 erected a log house on its site and brought his family there, but soon returned to Chester County, whence he came, on account of the hostility of the Indians. The town grew slowly and afforded small encouragement to the church to undertake the responsible task of supporting a pastor. But in 1796 they united with Derry and called the Rev. Mr. Woods, offering him a salary of $75.00 a year, and Elders Jacob Gearheart and William Montgomery were appointed to make the necessary arrangements with Derry. Mr. Woods, however, declined the call and the church still remained without a pastor.
In 1794 the Presbytery of Huntingdon was formed out of the northern portion of the Presbytery of Carlisle; and this church, together with all the territory now within the limits of the Pres- bytery of Northumberland, came under the ecclesiastical control of this new organization. From this time onward the Mahoning Church appears regularly on the roll of Presbytery, but it was not till 1798 that it succeeded in obtaining a pastor. In that year the Rev. John B. Patterson was sent with the Rev. Asa Dunham, by the General Assembly, on a missionary trip through this section of country as far as Lake Erie. By the advice of the Rev. Mr. Bryson, Mr. Patterson was induced to visit Derry and Mahoning churches; these churches soon united in calling him to be their pastor, and in 1799 he arrived at Mahoning and entered on his work. The first church edifice erected by this congregation was a log structure, which served as a house of worship for forty years. This was built about 1790; previous to this the church had worshiped in General Mont- gomery's home, and in his barn when the house was too small for the congregation. It was characteristic of the primitive church buildings, erected at this early period, that uo provision was made in them for heating in cold weather. The services usually continued through the most of the day ; a two hours' service in the morning with an interval at noon to eat a lunch, then another long service before the people departed to their homes. It argues very hardy constitutions, and hearts glowing with religious devotion when we
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read of these early congregations spending so many hours, often in the coldest weather, without a coal of fire to mitigate the severity of their exposure. In the course of time various primitive expedients were resorted to, in the way of foot-warmers and other arrangements, to relieve the chill of frosty weather till, at length, stoves were introduced. Communion occasions, which occurred once or, at most, twice a year, were times of great interest; the people gathered in from great distances, often from neighboring congregations, to celebrate the ordinance. They sat at tables prepared for the pur- pose in imitation of our Lord and his Apostles, and each commu- nicant was required to exhibit a token as an evidence of fitness to participate in the holy sacrament. The Monday following com- munion was always observed as a day of divine service ; it was then people were received into the church and the children were baptized. Eye witnesses have described these scenes, which have faded out of the view of the present generation, as most interesting and touching. They seemed like the assemblages of the tribes of Israel with their little ones when they came together to renew their covenant with the Lord.
Under Mr. Patterson's ministry the church grew steadily, keeping pace with the increase of population. When he commenced his pastorate there were thirty-seven recognized communicants; when he concluded his pastorate. in the spring of 1832, the reported number of communicants was 180. He is reported to have baptized 150 infants in one year in his united charge, and in five years, from 1825 to 1830, he baptized 323 infants. At this period the popula- tion of the town and vicinity made rapid advance under the impulse of business enterprises, which now began to develop themselves. Mr. Patterson, as was usually the case with Presbyterian ministers having country charges in those days, conducted a classical school at his home, in which a number of young men received their preparatory education for the ministry; among these was the William B. Montgomery represented, in Part II. of this narra- tive, as having been ordained in 1821 to go on a mission under the direction of the United Foreign Missionary Society. He was sent to the Osage Indians, among whom he wrought a good work. He was a son of this ( Mahoning) Church ; and it is gratifying to read the following account of him in the "Centennial Commemorative
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Services and Historical Discourses" of the present pastor of that church, the Rev. R. L. Stewart, to which we are indebted for much of our information touching this congregation. It is there said of Mr. Montgomery :
After a perilous journey of about four months he reached the station to which he was assigned, near Fort Gibson, and entered upon his work. His faithful wife, formerly Miss Jane Robinson, died a few months after her arrival in the Indian territory. In this chosen field Mr. Montgomery labored with many encouraging tokens of success, for more than thirty years. He was stricken down suddenly with Asiatic cholera and died, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, with the harness on and at his post.
The Rev. Mr. Patterson served this united charge of Mahoning and Derry for about thirty-one years. The Mahoning part of the charge, which had prospered without interruption from the begin- ning of his ministry, had now become able to support a pastor all his time. Would they not call the old veteran to that honor and uphold his hands till the Great Master should say: "Well done. good and faithful servant. come up higher?" This would have been a true and beautiful exponent of the gospel which they had received from his faithful lips: this would have been consistent with the theory of Presbyterianism ; this was the desert of the man. But gray hairs had crowned the old man's head ; they were honorable indeed, for they were found in the way of righteousness. But there is a generation that will not receive the gospel from lips that speak from under this crown of glory, though they speak never so wisely. They called a young man to share the charge with the venerable father, not as an assistant, which would have been proper enough, and perhaps agreeable to the old pastor, but on equal terms for the one-half of the time not hitherto occupied. No wonder the vener- able Patterson resigned the next year, and the young man. Mr. Dunlap, was allowed to have the sole pastorate. The gray hairs were out of the way now. Mr. Patterson resigned on the 17th of .April, 1832, but continued his pastorate at Derry till his death in 1843. Mr. Dunlap served the church, as pastor, for nearly six years. He seems to have been a worthy and successful servant of Christ to this people. He was called to the Second Church of Pittsburg, where he died greatly lamented. He was succeeded in the Mahon- ing Church by the Rev. David Halliday, D. D. He was called Feb- ruary 12th, 1838, and soon after entered on his work as a licentiate,
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but was not ordained and installed till the 25th of April. He was pastor for about five years and a half. During his pastorate the Synod of Philadelphia met in the edifice of this church, which seems to have been an event remembered with interest. This pastorate was well sustained and useful. Mr. Halliday resigned on account of ill health, and was afterwards called and installed over the Presbyterian Church at Peekskill, on the Hudson, where he spent about twenty-four years. He died at Princeton, New Jersey, whither he retired by reason of impaired health. He was succeeded by the Rev. J. W. Yeomans, D. D., after a vacancy of about two years. Dr. Yeomans was installed on the 11th of January, 1846. This ministry was very successful. Dr. Yeomans was esteemed one of the ablest men in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He was a man of noble presence, of splendid attainments and culture, and of extended influence. Few preachers excelled him in pulpit attractiveness, and in social qualities he was the equal of any. His mental force and his high attainments were known and admitted throughout the Church; he had been president of Lafayette College at a time in its history when it required the highest order of administrative ability, and was equal to the exigency; he was made Moderator of the General Assembly in 1860, of which assembly the writer was a member, and a witness of and participant in the struggle that resulted in his election to the Moderatorship; and it was admitted on all hands that a better Moderator never occupied the chair. During all that excited meet- ing, when the Southern members were there with their peculiar notions. and their anti-Northern schemes respecting the boards of . the Church, and determined, if possible, to accomplish their ends, not a single appeal was taken from any of his rulings. At the time Dr. Yeomans was called to the Mahoning Church the business of Danville was very prosperous. and continued so during the most of his pastorate: the church prospered in sympathy with the town. and in 1850 attained the highest number of communicants-325. It was now thought needful to change the locality of the church, which was situated on one side of the town, and that the less populous side, somewhat difficult of access to the majority of the congregation and so inconvenient for night services that another building had to be rented or kept up for that purpose. Accordingly a movement was set in motion to build a new and more modern
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structure, and in 1853 the spacious and substantial building now occupied by the congregation was commenced, and was finished the ensuing year, and dedicated on the 16th of November. The sermon on this occasion, the dedication, was preached by the late distin- guished Rev. William Plumer, D. D. The pastorate of Dr. Yeomans extended over a period of more than eighteen years, and was in all respects a prosperous one. He died on the 22d of June, 1863, and was buried in the old grave-yard where the dead of the church were buried from its origin. His funeral was attended by a large con- course of friends, who sincerely mourned the departure of a great and good man. Two of Dr. Ycomans' sons, Edward and Alfred. became ministers of the gospel; the former died comparatively young in the midst of a very promising career of life; the other is the suc- cessful pastor of the church in Orange, New Jersey, in the service of which his elder brother died. The successor of Dr. Yeomans was the Rev. William E. Ijams; he was ordained and installed on May 2d, 1865, and continued pastor a little short of two years and a half. The next pastor was the Rev. Alexander B. Jack, a Scotch- man of many eccentricities and brilliant pulpit powers. Mr. Jack entered on his work in January. 1869. but was not installed till April 21st. He continued in the pastorate till June 28th, 1874. It was during his ministry that the Manse was built at a cost of over $10,000. The Rev. Thomas R. Beeber followed Mr. Jack. He was called in June and took charge of the congregation on the 4th of July, 1875, but was not installed till the 27th of October. In the first year of Mr. Beeber's pastorate a revival of some magnitude occurred in the church, which resulted in an addition of fifty-seven converts to the communion roll. This pastorate closed on the 20th of April, 1880, when Mr. Beeber left to take a pastorate in Scranton, Pres- bytery of Lackawanna. In the same year the present zealous pastor was called and assumed the labors and duties of the pastorate. Under his ministry the church has continued to prosper, and is not likely to suffer from the want of wise, prayerful and judicious leadership, or the efficient administration of the gospel. All the departments of church work are kept up with spirit; while the missionary department, in the hands of the devout women, is a model of efficiency.
THE GROVE CHURCH .- This church was organized August 31st, 1855, under the name and title of " Mahoning North Church," which
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was afterwards changed by Presbytery, at the request of the con- gregation, to "Grove Church." While the congregation seems to have cordially approved the movement to remove, as the Mahoning Church, to a more central and convenient locality, and subscribed liberally to the erection of the new building, there were some who thought the time had come when another Presbyterian Church could be sustained in Danville with advantage to the cause of Christ ; and that the old church building, with its beautiful surroundings and hallowed associations, afforded an inviting opportunity to begin such an effort. Accordingly those of the old congregation who lived on the north side of the town, and in the country contiguous to it, made application for an organization as above stated. This effort to start a new church seems to have been regarded with favor by the adherents of the old church ; there was no jarring or opposition developed between the two parties; indeed it was generally admitted another church was needed. and the present circumstances were favorable to such an enterprise. The old church edifice in the Grove was refitted and Charles J. Collins was called as the first pastor. He was ordained and installed December 31st. 1856. A substantial parsonage was soon after erected on grounds con- tiguous to the church edifice, and the new enterprise entered on its career fully equipped. In the course of a few years the old church building was taken down and a splendid and costly stone structure. in Gothic style, was erected in its stead. Since Mr. Collins left this congregation it has had several pastors; the present pastor is the Rev. James M. Simonton, who seems to be doing a good and successful work here. This church reports a present membership of 187, and a Sabbath School of 200 members, with a commendable record of benevolent contributions.
SHAMOKIN FIRST CHURCH .- This church was organized April 15th, 1845. under the name and title of the " Shamokintown Church." It commenced its career with fifteen members and three elders, viz .: Solomon Egbert, Daniel Evert and Alexander Caldwell. It is now designated on the minutes of Presbytery, Shamokin First Church. The late Rev. J. J. Hamilton was appointed its stated supply at the time of its organization; he had preached in the place before as a supply sent by the Presbytery, and was probably the means of gathering the congregation and preparing it for organization. Mr.
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Hamilton continued to supply the pulpit of this newly organized church as long as he remained in the Northumberland Presbytery; he also built them a school house at his own expense, which the church and the community used for many years, and may be regarded as the pioneer of education, as well as the father of the Presbyterian Church there. Shamokintown is situated on Shamo- kin Creek, about fourteen miles from Sunbury, where the creek empties into the Susquehanna. It is in the midst of a very exten- sive and productive coal field, and has in recent times increased rapidly in population, and in the scope of its business operations. For many years the church was small and feeble, was irregularly supplied with the means of grace, and required constant missionary aid; but of late years it has gradually grown in numbers, and is now self-sustaining. It has a substantial church edifice, a large and thrifty Sabbath School, and seems to carry itself along with spirit and success. This whole section of country was included in the territory covered by the old Shamokin Church, of which a brief account will be found in the preceding pages. This church has, within the last few years, grown to be, numerically, one of the largest in the Presbytery. It reports a membership of 314, and contribu- tions to all the benevolent objects of the General Assembly, save one. The present successful pastor is the Rev. James W. Gilillan, whose ministry among this people has had an encouraging beginning.
There are to be found on the records of Presbytery the dates of the organization of several churches which have either ceased to exist or been transferred to other Presbyteries. Among these are Catawissa, organized May 6th, 1846; Chatham Run, organized with thirty-five members from Pine Creek, now Jersey Shore, and Great Island, 1844; Gordonsville, Nippenose and others, which are hardly of sufficient interest to warrant attention.
We have now completed our account of the churches of the Pres- bytery, and with this our task closes. Other Presbyteries which have larger and more populous fields may be able to show greater numerical results; but few within the whole range of the General Assembly's jurisdiction can exhibit better results in proportion to the material at command. Material results depend largely upon the amount of material employed; it would be interesting, and a source of profitable knowledge, to bring into contrast, if that were
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possible, the statistical tables of the decade last past with those of the first decade of its history; but that is impossible from the non- existence of early statistics.
It may be said the Presbytery has established a good reputation for itself throughout the Church; it has made a good record at home and abroad : its sons have gone out into the home and foreign fields well equipped to grapple with the great questions of the day, and have acquitted themselves to the approbation of the well-wishers of the Church and of the human race; and it is hoped to the approval of the Divine Master. It has passed through trying scenes, and faced some formidable difficulties ; but has always met its responsi- bilities with manly courage, and proved itself equal to the emergen- cies with which the providence of God required it to deal. It has insisted on a high standard of morals, both among its ministerial mem- bers and its churches, and has not flinched from enforcing discipline on either when occasion required it. In one particular it, perhaps. has failed of a wise policy: it has not improved its opportunity. nor maintained its just rights, nor fully met its responsibility with respect to the educational interests of the Church. or of the com- munity under its supervision. It may be said the Presbytery of Northumberland had a pre-emption right to control the educational interests of the territory which it covers; it was the first ecclesiastical body established on this territory; the population was largely, for many years almost exclusively, Presbyterian, and a very large proportion of the wealth of the region has always been in Presby- terian hands; yet no efficient effort has ever been made to establish a strictly Presbyterian school by the Presbytery. Efforts have several times been made, but as often failed, to establish a Presby- terial institution in which the youth of Presbyterian families could be educated amid a Presbyterian atmosphere and Presbyterian surroundings : while Methodists, and Baptists, and Lutherans have planted in this territory large and influential institutions of their own peculiar type, and Presbyterians have liberally helped them in this effort. In the distant future this mistaken policy, or rather I should say, this indifference to the permanent interests of the denomination will be realized first in the weakening of the vital force of Presbyterianism, and then in the decline of numbers. The day is now upon us when education not only makes the man, but also
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the Church that fosters it; and surely there never was a period in the history of the country when education, strictly and thoroughly religious in its character, was so imperatively required by existing circumstances. Those who wisely push forward institutions of this sort will be the winners in the end.
ERRATA.
On page 270, where reference is made to the appointment of Judge Grier by "Andrew Jackson," read James K. Polk.
"Rev. John B. Rendall," on page 349, should read Rev. Isaac N. Rendall. For James " McCormic," on page 351, read McCormick.
Page 352, for Rev. "G. G." Shedden, read S. S. Shedden.
CLOSE OF THE VOLUME-THE FUTURE.
With this number the first volume of THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL ends and the contract with our patrons expires. The year has passed very pleasantly and a few words at the close will not be out of place. Many of the patrons of the monthly have taken a deep interest in its success, and we have been the recipient of many words of encouragement. which we appreciate highly. But at the same time THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL has brought no pecuniary reward to its publisher for his labor. In fact he finds himself slightly behind at the close of the volume. But as a hundred or more full sets are still on hand, it is possible that in the course of time he may sell enough bound volumes to make up the deficiency. As a general rule, writing and publishing local history is purely a "labor of love." It rarely pays. On an average, scarcely one in fifty appreciates such literature. But it is a source of satisfaction. nevertheless, to receive the warm thanks as well as substantial support of that one for what has been done.
It is very different in England. There is scarcely a county or large town that does not have one or more magazines devoted to local history and the genealogy of families. Every incident is carefully put on record as the years roll away, so that those who follow know the history of their ancestors and the times in which they lived. To the credit of our own people it must be stated, however, that the taste for local history is slowly growing, and the time may come when, under the benign rays of education, coupled with the refining influences of a higher civilization, there may be as
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much of a desire for home history here as that possessed by our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic.
As to the future. Yielding to the urgent solicitations of more than a hundred valued friends-whose letters are on file-we have made arrangements to publish a revised edition of the History of the West Branch Valley in monthly parts, and the first number will be issued about the middle of April. It is thirty-two years since the work was first published, and copies are now rare and hard to obtain. In the revised edition it is proposed, besides cor- recting errors, to introduce much new matter, thereby greatly enhancing the value of the book. The region embraced in the history begins about Shamokin and ends with the Sinnemahon- ing Valley. All the quaint documents in the old work will be reproduced and several new ones of great value introduced. Many important points in our local history have developed since the pub- lication of the first work, which will receive careful attention. At the close there will be a review of the present condition of the valley, showing the improvements and progress that have been made since the time of its first settlement. And if there is suffi- cient encouragement from those whose ancestors bore a conspicuous part in the settlement of the valley, or in later years attained to distinction in civil or military life, there may be a carefully pre- pared biographical department, with fine portraits of the subjects.
No pecuniary reward worth speaking of is expected to result from the enterprise: indeed the publisher will consider himself lucky if he receives enough patronage to pay the cost of publication, unless enough friends who take a sufficiently deep interest in the preservation of our local history come to his aid.
The work, which will be elegantly printed from new type and on good paper, will take the place of THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL for a year. Each monthly part will consist of forty or more pages, and when completed will make a handsome book of fully 500 pages, with a carefully prepared index. A limited edition of not more than 800 copies will be printed, and as no agents will be employed, those desiring the work are requested to order it from the publisher direct. The price will be $3, payable in advance, and the monthly parts will be mailed to subscribers free of postage. When the num- ber printed is exhausted the work will be out of print. Those desiring copies are therefore advised to order them at once.
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THE WARRIOR RUN RIFLES-WAR OF 1812.
Appended is a copy of the muster roll of the Warrior Run Rifle Volunteer Company, which was commanded by Captain William McGuire, in October, 1814. The original roll was recently found among some old papers at Watsontown, Northumberland County :
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