USA > Pennsylvania > Huntingdon County > Huntingdon > The Historical memorial of the centennial anniversary of the Presbytery of Huntingdon : held in Huntingdon, Pa., April 9, 1895 : 1795-1895 > Part 13
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 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
From the organization of the church until the year 1819 the con- gregation worshipped in the court-house. In that year a square stone church building was erected on the site of the present edifice. About the year 1839 this building was taken down and a new and enlarged edifice erected upon the same site, whose Doric columns were the admiration of the lovers of classic architecture in that day. During the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Yeomans, in 1868, an effort was made to enlarge this edifice to accommodate the growing congregations, but in removing the walls they were found to be unfit for the purpose, and the building was taken down and the present church edifice erected in its stead. The corner- stone of this building was laid by Mr. Yeomans the day upon which he received the invitation to visit Orange with a view of taking up the work which had been so seriously interrupted by the death of his brother.
The first Session of the Church of Bellefonte consisted of Colonel James Dunlop, James Harris, Robert Boggs, and James Foster, the first two the founders and principal promoters of Bellefonte. During the pastorate of Mr. Wilson there were added to the Session at different times James Steel, George Williams, J. G. Lowrie, and Joseph Williams.
BELLEFONTE. CHAPEL.
129
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
During the pastorate of Dr. Linn there were added at different times to the Session William Alexander, Hamilton Humes, Thomas McKee, Henry Van Dyke, James Irvin, James Harris, Jr., William Baird, Thomas M. Giffen, J. H. Linn, Samuel Linn, James Harris, H. N. McAllister, E. C. Humes, and A. O. Furst. In 1873, during the pastorate of Mr. Wylie, James L. Sommerville, James A. Beaver, and Isaac Loss were added to the Session, and subsequently; during the pastorate of Dr. Laurie, J. C. Weaver, George L. Potter, and Samuel Sheffer have been duly elected and ordained as elders.
About the year 1869 new churches were organized at Milesburg and Buffalo Run, whose membership for the most part consisted of colonies from the parent church at Bellefonte. Notwithstanding these withdrawals, the church has steadily gained in membership, influence, beneficence, and activity. When Dr. Linn began his service in the church in 1809 the membership was about fifty. It now numbers about four hundred.
The first Sabbath-school organized in Bellefonte, October, 1818, was connected with this church, although called at the time " The Bellefonte Sabbath-Day School Association." John G. Lowrie was its superin- tendent, and remained so for many years, who, in addition to his office as elder, from the year 1805 to the year 1840, when the congregation entered its new church edifice, faithfully performed all the duties of sexton, clerk, collector, and treasurer of the congregation without charge. Dr. Linn, the pastor of the church, at times acted as superin- tendent, his assistants being at different times Hon. Samuel Linn, James A. Beaver, James Harris, and A. O. Furst. General James A. Beaver was elected superintendent in 1865, and continued uninterruptedly as the superintendent for twenty-two years. In 1886, in consequence of his election as governor of the Commonwealth, J. W. Gephart was elected superintendent, and has continued in that position ever since.
This church was one of the early contributors to missions, its con- tribution of fifteen dollars to the missionary work of the church being, in 1810, the only contribution from the Presbytery for that object. It has been faithfully instructed in the duty of Christian beneficence, and to this continued faithful instruction is due the reasonably faithful dis- charge of duty which is shown by its offerings for this purpose.
This sketch would not be complete without making special mention of the Ladies' Home and Foreign Missionary Societies, both of which are doing efficient service in the causes which they represent respectively, and of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, which, in ad-
9
130
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
dition to its other work, has organized a special effort for providing for the support of a missionary in Laos.
A. O. FURST.
BETHEL.
THE church of Bethel was organized November 27, 1866; enrolled April 9, 1867. "Cottage" Church, at the same place, had been organ- ized in 1854, but disbanded May 30, 1866. Bethel has been served in connection with Petersburg by the same pastors and supplies. B. F. Brown was an elder, also Mr. Lightner and others. Elmer Davis and L. Armstrong are the elders now. Its membership is thirty-two.
R. F. WILSON.
BEULAH.
THE church of Beulah was organized May 18, 1859, with twenty- two members, two of whom are still members,-Mr. and Mrs. G. W. McCully. William Hegarty, William McCullough, and George W. McCully were elected ruling elders.
Beulah Church is the outgrowth of a long series of dissensions in the Mount Pleasant Cross-Roads Presbyterian Church between some members of the Session and a large part of the congregation.
Previous to the organization a lot had been secured and a building committee appointed and all necessary arrangements for the erection of a house of worship. The date of the dedication of this building could not be ascertained, but it was some time in the latter part of 1860.
In the fall of 1893 the congregation began the erection of a new church building on a site in the town of Ramey. The old building was a mile from town, which had been built many years after the location of the church. This building was dedicated May 6, 1894, and was destroyed by fire January 27, 1895. The erection of a new building almost the same in design as the one burned was begun May I, and is now nearing completion.
Rev. William M. Burchfield supplied this church a few months in 1861. Rev. A. H. Halloway served as its first pastor from 1863 to 1867. Rev. William Prideaux was stated supply from 1868 to April 1, 1872.
I31
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
A call was made out October 1, 1873, for Mr. William Gemmill, a licentiate of Huntingdon Presbytery, which was accepted, and he was soon afterwards ordained and installed as pastor, and remained until June, 1887. Mr. A. L. R. Waite, a licentiate of New Brunswick, was called as pastor, and was ordained and installed by Presbytery June 12, 1888; he was dismissed April, 1889. Rev. L. L. Haughawant was stated supply March 1, 1890, to March 1, 1891. Rev. H. D. Rex was stated supply April 1, 1892, to April 1, 1893. The present pastor, Rev. J. E. Giffen, was called December 9, 1893, and began his ministrations January, 1894; installed May 5, 1894.
Of the three original elders, G. W. McCully is still a member of Session and the clerk of Session. William Hegarty died October 23, 1890. William McCullough ceased to act June 25, 1870, on account of age and infirmity.
James Cornely, William H. Edwards, M.D., and Joseph Mccullough were ordained and installed. Mr. Cornely was dismissed to Madera Presbyterian Church at its organization, June 29, 1894. Dr. Edwards was dismissed to Tyrone December 24, 1875. Joseph Mccullough died May II, 1893.
William B. Whiteside and Thomas Mathers were ordained and in- stalled March 31, 1877. Mr. Whiteside was dismissed to Johnson City, Tennessee, November 27, 1885. Mr. Mathers fell under the power of intoxicants and was suspended June 29, 1883.
Isaac Hagerty, T. A. Prideaux, and J. C. Mullen were ordained and installed April 3, 1886. Mr. Hagerty was dismissed to Madera Presby- terian Church at its organization, June 29, 1894.
The Session now is composed of Elders McCully, Prideaux, and Mullen.
The church has sixty-nine members at the present time.
A few years after organization the congregation built a parsonage near the church building, and this parsonage was burned in March, 1894. J. E. GIFFEN.
BIRMINGHAM AND WARRIOR'S MARK.
THE church at Birmingham was organized by the Huntingdon Pres- bytery on May 16, 1835. The name at the organization was the Bir- mingham Presbyterian Church, which name remains unchanged.
%
I32
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
There were sixty-seven members at the time of the organization. The present membership is one hundred and eighty.
The Rev. Samuel Hill became the first stated supply in June, 1835. During his ministry the congregation undertook the work of erecting a house of worship,-a house forty-five by fifty-four feet, and capable of seating about three hundred people. This building served the needs of the congregation from 1837 to 1869, when the present church was reared.
We quote from an historical discourse preached by the Rev. S. T. Wilson, D.D., " The only memorandum of this church building which has come down to us is a record of five lines on the cover of the origi- nal book of Sessional Records in the handwriting of Mr. John Owens (for many years clerk of the Session), which says, 'The Presbyterian Church in the Borough of Birmingham was dedicated to Almighty God by suitable religious services by Rev. Samuel Hill, on the 23d day of July, in the year of our Lord 1837. And his text on the occasion was from the second chapter of Haggai, and first clause of the ninth verse, ' The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.'
" When it is remembered that they were just coming up, on this happy occasion, from the old Baptist church, where they had been holding their services since the organization, to this their own new Presbyterian church, one wonders whether or not so grave a man as Mr. Hill could possibly have indulged himself in a little dry Irish humor in the selection of this text."
After a period of great depression and discouragement from 1845 to 1857, during which many members removed from the region or became lax in their religious duties, the church was reorganized June 12, 1858, by the Rev. A. D. Happer, D.D., a missionary from China, who was re- cuperating in Pennsylvania. Total membership at this reorganization forty-eight, including nine of the original sixty-seven, and sixteen re- ceived on that day. From this period Warrior's Mark has been regarded as a part of the Birmingham field.
A full history of the Birmingham Church must therefore include a record of the work at Warrior's Mark. This place, as early as 1786, was a missionary point, and was supplied by appointments from the Presby- tery of Carlisle. In the records are found the names of a Mr. Caldwell, a probationer, Rev. Matthew Stevens, and Mr. Samuel Wilson, a licentiate of the Presbytery. In April, 1789, the Warrior's Mark congregation united with those of East and West Penn's Valley and Half Moon in calling as their pastor the Rev. James Martin, who continued with them
WARRIORS MARK CHAPEL This Church stands nearest the old log church in the Barrens" beyond Warriors Mark, where the Rev. James Martin preached .
BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHAM.
I33
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
for about six years, when he gave up the Warrior's Mark and Half Moon end of the charge.
During a portion of 1794 the congregations were supplied by the Rev. James Johnson, Rev. John Johnson, and two young licentiates, Wiley and McLean.
In 1796 Warrior's Mark was joined with the Spruce Creek and Sink- ing Valley congregations as a field to be supplied by Presbytery. In 1798 Spruce Creek and Sinking Valley united in calling a pastor for themselves, leaving out the Warrior's Mark congregation, after which it became extinct.
Without any positive data to go upon, it is supposed that during the early part of the Rev. James Martin's ministry a little log. church was erected in what is now called "Dry Hollow," about two miles east of the present Valley of Warrior's Mark. This building was destroyed by a fire breaking out in " the barrens" which then surrounded the church. The site can now be identified on the farm of Mr. Ellenbarger, his log farm-house being about one hundred feet back of the point where the old church stood, his barn one hundred feet in front of it. There is an oak-tree immediately west of it, and an old unfailing spring, from which the worshippers often drank, and the only one in "Dry Hollow," about three hundred feet to the northwest.
About 1857 the Rev. John Elliott, while doing missionary work in the Presbytery, visited Warrior's Mark and, after preaching several times, consented to spend the summer laboring for the Tyrone and Warrior's Mark people.
Since 1858 Warrior's Mark has been regarded in such a sense a part of the Birmingham field as to have given to it a certain part of the public services, the Baptist people there kindly yielding the use of their church building, as they had done at Birmingham years before.
During the pastorate of the Rev. W. A. Hooper a very important addition was made to the eldership of the church. "On the 6th of Janu- ary, 1862, J. R. Lowrie, Esq., son of Hon. Walter Lowrie, the first sec- retary of the Board of Foreign Missions, was ordained and installed in that office. ¿ With his residence at Warrior's Mark, this act of the congre- gation clothing him with the functions of the eldership opened the way for all his practical tact and Christian energy to work, and work effec- tively, in that outlying portion of the congregation."
In the fall of 1866 a pleasant and commodious chapel was completed at Warrior's Mark at a cost of about five thousand dollars. This attrac-
I 34
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
tive-looking sanctuary, so recently repainted and put in perfect repair, is the true successor of the old log church in "Dry Hollow," which was burned so many years ago.
The Mountain Seminary has been so closely connected with the life and progress of the Birmingham Church that a brief history of this institution is absolutely necessary.
The first and main building of the Mountain Seminary was erected by a corporation of stockholders, in 1851, on a donated tract of land comprising about three acres on the southwest slope of the Birmingham ridge.
The school was opened and conducted under the principalship of the Rev. Israel Ward, but failed to sustain itself pecuniarily, and the property was sold at sheriff's sale in 1855, the purchaser being John McPherron, Sr., of Eden Valley, who resold it in 1857 to L. G. Grier, a recent graduate of Lafayette College, where he was intimately associated with Samuel Gayley and Charles R. Mills, both of whom have since laid down their lives in the Master's service in China.
With Mr. Grier came his wife and Miss N. J. Davis, a graduate of the class of 1856 in Mount Holyoke College. Large faith and small pecuniary means characterized the trio that alighted from the train October 27, 1857. Descending a steep flight of steps leading from the Birmingham station, they proceeded to cross the Juniata on a narrow foot-bridge, in lieu of the usual row-boat transportation, for the present "old bridge" had then not even an "airy habitation" in the brain of the architect.
It was not the intention of the principals to open the seminary to pupils before the following May, but an unexpected application for ad- mittance from six girls was not refused, and the winter was spent in teaching and preparing for the formal opening in the spring.
The presence of a pastor over the village church would have assisted the new enterprise, but the church was desolate, and there was none of whom to ask counsel or prayers. Four or five sermons preached by the Rev. Moses Floyd, at the invitation of Mr. Grier, constituted all the church privileges enjoyed for at least four months. However, the May sunshine brought light. The school opened with encouraging prospects, and permission was obtained from Presbytery to supply the church with the selection of Dr. Happer, a returned missionary from China.
From this time the church and school have been so vitally connected that it is almost impossible to give the history of either separately.
REV. H. H. HENRY
L. G. GRIER. Ph.D.
J. R.LOWRIE. ESQ.
S.C. STEWART
O
BIRMINGHAM.
PASTOR AND ELDERS.
135
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
A wonderful awakening resulted from his efforts in the school and church. A weekly prayer-meeting, composed of the pupils and two lady teachers, was organized, aside from the regular Wednesday church prayer-meeting, which was organized with the school and held in the school hall.
In a few weeks ten out of twelve pupils who were not professing Christians were rejoicing, though tremblingly, in a new-found Saviour, and professors, who had been careless, were rebaptized with the power of the Holy Spirit.
On the day of the reorganization of the church, June 12, 1858, Mr. Grier was chosen to be a ruling elder in the church. What his life was to the school and church can be read in the hearts of all who came under his influence.
The next term opened October 28 with an increase in the number of pupils and one addition to the faculty, a teacher of drawing.
The faithful ministrations of Dr. Happer in the church and school were followed by a deep seriousness, and subsequently, in the early part of December, during a series of religious meetings, eleven pupils began to inquire the "Way of Life," all of whom afterwards united with the church here or at their homes.
In May, 1859, Dr. Happer left for his foreign field of work, and before his departure a " Foreign Mission Band" was organized in the seminary (perhaps one of the first in the Presbytery), which has continued to the present to hold monthly meetings, and to contribute, on an average, one hundred dollars yearly to foreign missions. This Band has also repre- sentatives in the foreign and home fields,-India, Japan, China, New Mexico, Dakota. So much for the organization of the school.
The superstructure has not been unworthy of the foundation. Im- provements were made as the finances permitted. Year by year more ground was purchased and beautified with rare and stately trees, until the original three acres have expanded into a hundred, and the barren hill-side of 1858 has become the beautiful park, with winding walks and shaded drives, of 1895.
The original building has been transformed by the hand of modern improvement. Four others have been erected.
The number of the faculty has been increased to seven. The courses of study have kept pace with the requirements of the times.
Three courses for graduation have been arranged, one of which is a college-preparatory, and from which pupils have entered Bucknell, the
136
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
Woman's College, Baltimore, University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, and Michigan University. A few boys from time to time, as special cases, have been trained for college, and have taken high rank in Williams, Wooster, Washington, and Princeton. Thousands have gone out from the class-rooms to the battle of life, some to preach the gospel of Christ, others to live it in the quiet of their homes, all, we hope, the better for the care and training of their Alma Mater.
The chosen life-work of Dr. Grier was laid down after thirty busy, prayerful years, May 8, 1887, since which time the school has been con- ducted on the same principles as before by Miss N. J. Davis as principal. A. R. Grier (son of Dr. Grier) is business manager.
During the ministry of the Rev. I. H. Stevenson the Session was encouraged to devise larger and better things for the Birmingham Church; and, as a result, the present sanctuary was built in 1868 and 1869 at a cost of seven thousand dollars. It is one of the neatest and best church buildings, for its cost, in the Presbytery of Huntingdon, and reflects honor not only " upon the people who bore the burden of its cost, but also upon the building committee, consisting of Messrs. L. G. Grier, S. C. Stewart, and Samuel Thompson, for the thoroughness and economy secured to them in the work."
During the ministry of Rev. S. T. Wilson, D.D., in 1876, there were two hundred and four members on the church roll, the largest number in the history of the church. The largest number of additions to the church during any one year of its existence was in 1881, when Rev. J. J. Francis, D.D., was pastor, when fifty-eight were received (forty-nine on examination and nine on certificate). Twice during this pastorate, the Church contributed over one thousand dollars for foreign missions.
At this time the church secured, through the generosity of Elders S. C. Stewart and J. R. Lowrie, the deed to the comfortable parsonage which adjoins the Birmingham Church.
The present pastor, Rev. H. H. Henry, began his work November, 1889.
At this date (1895) the Sunday-school at Birmingham is full and well manned by a corps of most earnest teachers under the superintendent, S. C. Stewart, Esq., an elder of twenty-five years' service, whose love and zeal and personal sacrifice for the church have endeared him to all its members.
At Warrior's Mark is another well-organized Sunday-school under the care of Dr. T. C. Peterson, a consecrated, enthusiastic, and devoted elder of six years' experience.
I 37
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
The Birmingham Church possesses a most enthusiastic Christian Endeavor Society, which is like a right hand to the pastor in all church work. The Junior Christian Endeavor Society is also a model in its way.
All missionary effort in this church is earnest and practical. The Ladies' Society at the Warrior's Mark end of the parish has the honor of having given to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Hun- tingdon Presbytery its efficient, whole-souled president, Miss S. R. Lowrie. For many years the sum raised in this church for foreign missions has ranged from six hundred dollars to one thousand dollars, making an average of from three to six dollars per member.
For years the Birmingham Church has been classed among the first in the Presbytery for its contributions to the boards of the church.
The faculty and students of the Mountain Seminary, who worship in the Birmingham Church, add not a little to its attractiveness by the presence of bright faces and melodious voices.
CONNECTIONS OF THE BIRMINGHAM-WARRIOR'S MARK CONGREGATIONS WITH OTHER CHURCHES IN THE PRESBYTERY.
Year.
Churches.
1789-94 Warrior's Mark with East and West Penn's Valley and Half Moon.
1794
Warrior's Mark and Half Moon.
1796
Warrior's Mark and Spruce Creek and Sinking Valley.
1835-57 Birmingham and Spruce Creek.
1857 Warrior's Mark and Tyrone.
1858-59 . . Birmingham, Warrior's Mark, and Tyrone.
1859-60 . . Birmingham, Warrior's Mark, Tyrone, and Logan's Valley.
1861-67 .
. Birmingham, Warrior's Mark, and Tyrone.
1868-95 .
. Birmingham and Warrior's Mark.
MINISTERS WHO HAVE SERVED THIS PARISH.
Name.
Installed.
Dismissed.
Died. Date unknown.
Rev. Samuel Hill, S.S.
. June, 1835.
1843
Rev. John White, S.S. .
Spring, 1843.
Spring, 1848.
Date unknown.
Rev. Israel Ward, S.S.
May, 1849.
Spring, 1857.
Date unknown.
Rev. Andrew P. Happer, D. D., S.S. . . May 6, 1858.
May, 1859.
Oct. 7, 1894.
Rev. David Sterrett, S.S. May, 1859.
May, 1860.
Date unknown.
Rev. Joseph H. Barnard, P.
June 12, 1860.
Dec. 27, 1860.
Rev. W. A. Hooper, P.
Nov. 17, 1861. April 13, 1864.
Rev. John H. Clark, S.S. Oct. 9, 1868.
June, 1867. Sept. 23, 1870.
Rev. Joseph H. Stevenson, P. June 19, 1868.
October, 1869.
Rev. Samuel T. Wilson, D.D., P. July, 1872.
Oct. 19, 1878.
Oct. 5, 1893.
Rev. J. J. Francis, D.D., P.
. Nov. 19, 1879.
May 14, 1885.
Rev. Charles E. Craven, P.
. June 18, 1886.
Oct. 21, 1888.
Rev. Harry H. Henry, P.
May 20, 1890.
.
I38
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY.
Charles A. Patton, Senior of Princeton. Geo. A. Dickson, '94, Washington and Jefferson. Walter Lowrie, '94, Princeton.
ELDERS.
James Boggs
Installed May 16, 1835.
Died February 28, 1839.
John Owens
Installed May 16, 1835. .
Died July 24, 1880.
John McPherron
Installed May 16, 1835.
Died August 10, 1860.
James Wilson
Installed May 16, 1835.
Moved West 1840.
Lemuel G. Grier
Installed June 20, 1858.
Died May 9, 1887.
J. Robert Lowrie
Installed January 5, 1862.
Died December 10, 1885.
John Wrye Installed May 31, 1868.
Died December 14, 1869.
David Rabold
Installed February 27, 1886.
Moved to Altoona, 1892.
William B. Fetterhoof
Installed February 27, 1886.
Died February 8, 1888.
PRESENT ELDERS.
Samuel Calhoun Stewart
Installed February 30, 1871.
Dr. T. C. Peterson
Installed February 24, 1889.
James Wood Smith
Installed February 24, 1889.
DEACONS.
Zaccheus Lower
Ordained September 9, 1874.
Deposed February 8, 1888.
Robert Jackson
Ordained September 9, 1874.
Dismissed March 16, 1877.
Gideon Ganoe
Ordained September 9, 1874.
Ceased October 18, 1879.
Alexander G. Morris
Dismissed April 5, 1883.
William C. Gensimore
. Ordained September 27, 1874.
Andrew Robeson Ordained September 27, 1874.
TRUSTEES.
Andrew Robeson
Birmingham.
Paul L. Wolfe
Birmingham.
A. R. Grier
. Birmingham.
William L. Rider
. Warrior's Mark.
John T. Patton
. Warrior's Mark.
Gottlieb Rabold .
. Warrior's Mark.
TREASURER.
Andrew Robeson.
H. H. HENRY.
139
OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
BRADFORD.
THE old church was built in or about the year 1830, for I heard father say he went to church there when a young man (and went bare- footed). It is situated in the middle of our cemetery; is in size twenty- four by thirty feet, and was used as a Union church by Lutherans and Presbyterians, the Presbyterians using it the last ten years it was in use for church service. We have had it repaired, and it is used for funeral services by all denominations. It is the oldest church in our township. It has been the place of many good and refreshing times, which our fathers and mothers could testify to if living, and some of us who are younger could do the same; for your humble servant made his first confession of Christ and went before the Session, a trembling boy, to answer the questions of examination, thirty years ago, with two others (ladies); one has passed over; the other lives in Lancaster.
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.