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 5
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Martha Milliken. Mary Laughlin. Ann S. Laird.
John Vankirk. James Hughes. Cassandra Hughes. Fanny Hughes;
Susanna Rasler. John Krine.
Jane Laird. Jane Patterson.
Mary Hughes.
John Coulter.
Jane W. Graham.
James Hughes, Jr.
Joseph Kelly.
Mary Jane Coulter.
Robert Barnard.
Wm. Sterrett.
Noah Hedding.
Jane Brice.
John Patterson. Barbara Hoke.
Nicholas Okeson. Andrew Patterson.
Wm. D. Beale.
Hannah Beale.
Elizabeth Hoke.
Rebecca Patterson.
Rachel Beale.
Mary Goodwin.
Mary Jane Armstrong. Samuel Reed.
James Beale.
Ann B. Kelly.
John Patterson.
Mary Ann Law.
Patrick Pry.
Agnes Patterson.
Margaret Alexander.
Jemima Alexander.
William Beard.
Rachel Patterson.
Moses Kelly.
Jane Ligget.
Samuel Wharton.
Isabella Graham. Sarah Sedgewick. Martha Martin. James S. Patton. John Williams. Elizabeth Martin. Jane Martin. Maria Martin. Margaret Martin. Isabella Patton. Nathaniel Martin. Eliza Glasgow. Isabella Y. Martin.
Mary Milliken. Milly Milliken. Margaret Milliken.
John Rasler.
Catharine Rasler.
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OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
But Mr. Coulter was far in advance of the common movement; he had rebuked and arrested the unseemly custom of using intoxicating refreshments at funerals; he had tested and proved on his own farm the practicability of dispensing with its use in the harvest-field, with the mutual understanding that instead of the accustomed dram he would give additional wages. He discarded it in his family, and in all suitable ways discountenanced and denounced its common use in the community.
In the early part of his ministry Mr. Coulter taught a classical school, in which the Rev. David Elliott, D.D., LL.D., at one time Senior Pro- fessor of the Western Theological Seminary, and Moderator of the General Assembly in 1837, was one of the pupils .*
"Mr. Coulter was also remarkable for his strict regard for punctuality. The day of his death, which occurred on the Sabbath, is said to have been the first on which he ever disappointed his congregation. He died June 22, 1834. The Rev. John Hutchison spoke at his grave, and said, 'He being dead yet speaketh.'"
The next pastor of this church was the Rev. McKnight Williamson,
Phebe Patterson.
Samuel Starrett.
Mary A. Gilson.
Priscilla Wharton.
John Snyder.
Elizabeth Kelly.
McKnight Williamson.
Alice Wharton.
Jane Snyder. Ann Rasler. Ann E. Alexander.
Sarah Starrett.
Isabella Ann Patterson.
John Berry.
James Patterson.
Joseph Barnard.
Mary Bryson.
Margaret I. Nelson.
Margaret Kelly.
Elizabeth Barnard.
Nancy E. Williams.
Sarah Nelson.
Jane Patterson.
David Alexander.
Francis Graham.
William Starkey.
Ann C. McDonald.
Ruth Brice.
Thomas Gilson.
Martha Starkey.
John Mclaughlin.
Ann Law.
Mary Behel.
Elizabeth Starkey.
Robert Montgomery.
Sarah Law.
William Behel.
Margaret Starkey.
William Seibert.
William S. Irvin.
Jane Behel.
Stewart Starkey.
Clementina Seibert.
Wilson Laird.
Joseph Ard.
James Galloway.
James Brice.
John Coulter.
Mary A. Baird.
Eleanor Galloway.
Rachel Brice.
William Patterson.
Hannah Hedding.
Mary Reed.
Eleanor Brice.
Samuel Coder.
Mary McDonald. Ephraim Hedding.
Hugh Alexander.
Sarah S. Brice.
Jane Beale.
Thomas M. Hedding.
James McDonald.
John McCoy.
James Gray.
Hugh Gray.
Lydia McDonald.
Samuel Mc Williams.
Polly Graham.
Robert Patterson. 159.
* When the writer was a student in the Western Theological Seminary, in 1862, Dr. Elliott, then an aged professor, told him that on one of his trips across the Tuscarora Mountain to school he met a bear which stood across his path. He was without any weapon of defence, but he had heard that the wild animal was afraid of the human eye; he acted upon the thought, looked the bear straight in the eye, and the bear ran away.
Isabella Starrett.
Rachel Brice.
Jane Telfer.
Nancy Turbett.
Nancy Berry.
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THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
who was installed in 1835 and released in 1845. Two important events distinguished the pastorate of Mr. Williamson.
The first was the incorporation of the famous Tuscarora Academy, where so many of the young men of the Juniata Valley and elsewhere, including such names as James P. Sterrett, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, ex-Judge Landis, John M. Bailey, Esq., General John P. Taylor, J. G. Hartswick, M.D., George M. Graham, M.D., Revs. John C. Barr, R. F. Wilson, J. Harris Stewart, Joseph H. Barnard, D.D., David J. Beale, D.D., George L. Shearer, D.D., Joseph H. Mathers, D.D., Professors John Hamilton and S. S. Orris, received their academical training.
The second event referred to in the ministry of McKnight William- son, was the great revival of 1842. In the sketch of the church, from which I have been drawing my information, it is said that "from the beginning of the year the means of grace appeared to be attended with more than ordinary interest and encouragement. But the ensuing Au- gust, at a sacramental season, the manifestation of the presence of God in his convicting and converting power, and the reviving influence of his spirit were amazing. Mr. Williamson was assisted on that occasion by the Rev. Wm. Ramsay, D.D., who preached from day to day with pecu- liar unction and power. And as the gracious work proceeded thronged congregations looked upon it with awe and admiration ; but some doubted. Though it was a busy season the congregation generally relinquished their worldly cares and business and attended church. An instance is mentioned of a farmer who, at an early stage of the progress of the meetings, went out in the morning to look after his hands and send them to the field. The first man he met declined to go because he wanted to go to church, the second man was in the same frame of mind ; he came to the third, who, in reply to the summons to go to the field, cried out, " Pray for me." Then they all kneeled down there and deter- mined to " seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."* The
* Since this paper has been published the writer has received a letter from the Rev. W. A. Patton, of Osborn, Ohio, in which he says, " Your father gave me from memory substan- tially the same account. One incident I well remember; it was during the great revival. He was passing on horseback the large sugar-tree near W. P. Graham's barn (I wonder if it is still standing), where he saw in the fence-corner my father on his knees, praying with and for my uncle George Gilliford, then a young man. I spoke to my uncle about this incident. He said it was true, and believed the prayer was the means under God of his conversion. He died last year, a faithful Christian and an honored elder of the Church of Delphi, Indiana." The sugar-tree referred to in this note was a magnificent specimen of its kind, much admired
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OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
effect of that revival was profound, and is clearly manifest to this day. It seemed also to have been the beginning of a great revival which extended all over the Presbytery the next year. Mr. Williamson continued to be the pastor of the Lower Tuscarora Church until 1845, when, at his own request, the relation was dissolved. My father spoke of him as an im- pressive preacher, an active and watchful pastor, and the most gifted man in prayer he had ever heard. I presume the prayers which he remembered were fragrant memories of the revival of 1842.
Mr. Williamson spent many years in the West, returned to this Pres- bytery in 1881, and died March 21, 1893, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. W. H. Woods, in Huntingdon, at the advanced age of ninety-three years.
After Mr. Williamson left, the Rev. B. H. Campbell supplied the church for a short time. Next came the Rev. George W. Thompson, D.D., a man of singularly persuasive pulpit power. The writer has never heard from the lips of man words that thrilled his soul like those uttered by his pastor when, as a boy, he sat under his powerful ministry. I have heard aged persons in that congregation say, in times of revival, that it seemed "the minister was an angel." The same thought often crossed my own mind; and sure am I to-day that in those heavenly scenes George W. Thompson was clothed with power from on high. A fair sketch of Dr. Thompson's life is found in Gibson's History; but recollections far more vivid are impressed upon the hearts and affections of that congregation.
MIFFLINTOWN.
Contemporaneous with the life of the Lower Tuscarora Church runs the history of the Church of Cedar Spring (now Mifflintown and Lost Creek).
The Rev. Charles Beatty and the Rev. George Duffield, who preached at Tuscarora, August 21, 1766, rode down the valley that same afternoon, a distance of eight miles, to Captain Patterson's (living where Mexico now stands). The next day Mr. Beatty preached in the woods about two miles north of the Juniata. Here, he says, the people began to build a house of worship some years ago, but did not finish it ; but expect soon to do it. He adds, " These poor people, as well as those of Tuscarora,
and the subject of remark by many a stranger. It was blown down by a storm in the summer of 1893, and only the stump now marks where it stood, and where under its spreading shade our fathers wrestled with God, and at least one soul found the gate of heaven.
4
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THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
before mentioned, are very desirous of having the gospel settled among them, and for that purpose appeared forward and willing to do every- thing in their power; but for the present, the people here, and in other places that have suffered so much by the war, have a number of diffi- culties to struggle with, as they have to begin the world anew."
After sermon the two ministers returned to Captain Patterson's, where they agreed to part for a few days, Duffield to return to the Path Valley, Great and Little Coves,-to set out on his way that same evening, and preach in the Path Valley the following Sabbath,-and Beatty to remain at Captain Patterson's over the Sabbath, and the week following preach to the settlements up the Juniata. By this arrangement Beatty preached on Sabbath, August 24, near the mouth of the " Tuskerora River" (Tus- carora Creek), where it empties into the Juniata, to a large congregation collected from different quarters and from afar. It is probable that an- nouncements for this meeting had been made at the meetings held the week before, and that as a consequence the settlers came from their log cabins and clearings far up the valley that day, to be met by others from the opposite side of the Juniata, and to hear, as far as any record war- rants us to believe, the first sermon ever preached in the Tuscarora Valley on the Lord's day. The exact spot where the preacher stood is not known; but it requires little imagination to suppose that the sound of his voice in the open air that midsummer Sabbath might have been heard from where any one of the Port Royal churches now stand.
In his diary, Mr. Beatty says, " The audience appeared very attentive and much engaged. I would fain hope that some good impressions were made upon the minds of a number of people who attended to-day. In the afternoon, being in the open air, we were interrupted by a very heavy shower of rain, attended with a high wind and sharp thunder, which obliged us to take shelter in a neighboring house as well as we could. The women and a great part of the men crowded into it, and there I finished my discourse. After sermon I went to a house about a mile off and baptized a child, born the last night, and returned to Cap- tain Patterson's in the evening."
The next day (Monday) he resumed his journey up the Juniata, "through a bad road to a place called the Narrows, where a rocky mountain bounds so close upon the river .as to leave only a small path along the bank for the most part, and this, for about ten miles, very un- even : at this time also greatly encumbered by trees fallen across it, blown up from the roots some time ago by a hard gale of wind," so that he
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OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
was obliged to walk some part of the way, and in some places to go along the edge of the water.
But we cannot now follow this pioneer preacher on his toilsome journey up the Juniata to the settlements beyond; we leave him for the present to pursue his journey with his interpreter and Indian guide, and return to note the progress of growth where he had been sowing the good seed of the kingdom the week before.
Two years afterwards the name of the Presbyterian Church of Cedar Spring appears upon the records of the Presbytery of Donegal. Octo- ber 1, 1768, the congregation made a formal " supplication" for supplies. At the next meeting of the Presbytery, April, 1769, the Cedar Spring congregation joined with Tuscarora in supplication for supplies, and the Rev. Mr. Cooper was sent to these churches. Afterwards a Mr. Rhea was called, but it is not known that he ever preached in either church.
In 1771 the Rev. J. Kennedy came to this field ; how long he stayed is not definitely known, but that he remained several years may be in- ferred from the mention of his name in the diary of a young minister who visited this place in June, 1775.
The name of this minister was Philip Vicars Fithian. The brilliant diary of his travels through these valleys one hundred and twenty years ago is still preserved. He was a graduate of the class of 1772 in the College of New Jersey, a class noted for its ability and the subsequent prominence of many of its members,-among whom were Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States, William Bradford, Attorney-General of the United States, and the Rev. William Linn, D.D. Mr. Fithian received an appointment from the Presbytery of Donegal, to preach at Cedar Spring, June 25, 1775.
His diary reads thus :
" Sunday, June 25 .- Cedar Springs, Cumberland County. A large and genteel society, but in great and furious turmoil about one Mr. Kennedy, who was once their preacher. Poor I was frightened. One of the society, when he was asked to set the tune, answered that he knew not whether I was a Papist or a Methodist or a Baptist or a Seceder ? I made him soon acquainted with my authority."
Mr. Fithian was entertained on this occasion by the writer's great- grandfather, John Harris, Esq., the founder of Mifflintown, whose house stood on the bank of the river. Of him, in his diary, he says, " He lives elegantly : in the parlor where I was sitting are three windows, each with twenty-four lights of large glass."
-
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THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
Later on in the evening he says, " It is now sunset ; I am now sitting under a dark tuft of willows and large sycamores close on the bank of the beautiful river Juniata. The river near two hundred yards wide, lined with willows, sycamores, walnuts, white oaks, and a fine bank,- what are my thoughts? Fair genius of this water, O tell me, Will not this in some future time be a vast, pleasant, and very populous country ? Are not many large towns to be raised on these shady banks? I seem to wish to be transferred forward only one century. Great God ! America will surprise the world."
Whether Philip Fithian would have realized his dream had he been permitted to come back to that spot after a hundred years no one can tell. But could he have done so, certain it is he would not have seen the fine house in which he was then being entertained,-only the place where it had stood, the house itself torn down, while a little farther on he would have seen the beautiful village of Mifflintown, its churches, its schools, its court-house, and its one thousand inhabitants; and on the very spot where he was sitting the ruins of the old Pennsylvania Canal, built since he was there before at enormous cost, but abandoned long since; while in front of him and across the river he would have seen an iron road on which were passing transcontinental trains drawn by a mighty and mysterious power with a swiftness surpassing the fleetness of a running horse, and bearing the traffic of the world.
The early history of the Cedar Spring Church is singular. In 1766- 67 the congregation obtained a grant of two hundred acres of land for a glebe. This land afterwards became an occasion of disturbance in the congregation, and of misunderstanding between the people and the minister, the Rev. Hugh Magill. The Presbytery sent a committee to meet at the church and to assist in an effort to effect a reconciliation ; but the committee found the doors of the meeting-house nailed up, and reported to Presbytery that they could not enter.
In the winter of 1798-99 a new church building was begun on a lot deeded to the congregation by Jean Harris, the widow of John Harris. For some reason the church was not completed at that time. On the 13th of February of that year (1799) an act of the Legislature was passed authorizing a number of gentlemen to act as commissioners to " raise by lottery a sum of money, not to exceed two thousand dollars, to be applied to defraying the expenses of completing the building of the Presbyterian Meeting-House in Mifflintown." Dr. Mathers says this lottery was never held. The church remained unfinished for more than
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OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
five years. But in 1805 the Rev. John Hutchison, recently called, preached a sermon from Haggai i. 4, " Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?" The effect of that sermon was salutary. The people were roused; they finished the church, and they put their hands into their own pockets and paid for it.
Reminding you again that this paper is only fragmentary and does not claim to be a complete history of any community, I hasten on to gather up some of the crumbs of history, scattered long ago in Penn's Valley.
PENN'S VALLEY.
For almost all the information which is contained in this paper about the early churches of Penn's Valley tlie writer gratefully acknowledges the kindness of the Hon. John B. Linn, of Bellefonte, who generously furnished his own historical notes, which have been prepared with great care and are of exceeding great value. The writer is sure that this Presbytery will join with him in thanking the author for the use of his manuscript from which he now quotes.
The vanguard of Scotch-Irish immigration were George McCormick, James Potter, Joseph McGrew, and John McMullin, who arrived in Penn's Valley in 1773-74. The first sermon ever delivered within the present limits of Centre County was at Captain (afterwards General) Potter's. The Rev. William Linn, coming not by regular appointment, but as a visitor to Captain Potter's home, preached at his house July 23, 1775. Mr. Linn remained at Captain Potter's over the next Sabbath, July 30. That same Sabbath, Philip V. Fithian, who was then on his rounds filling appointments of the Presbytery of Donegal, preached at Great Island (now Lock Haven). The next Monday he rode up the Bald Eagle Creek and stopped overnight, July 31, with Andrew Boggs, at "Bald Eagle's Nest," so called because an Indian of the name of Bald Eagle had built his wigwam there between two trees. Here, the next morning, August 1, 1775, he held a service of prayer in the presence of some In- dians and a roomful of other people, no doubt the first religious service held by any minister in what is now the borough of Milesburg.
The next Sabbath found Mr. Fithian at the house of Captain James Potter, where he had an appointment to preach that day. In his journal he tells his own story in the following fashion,-viz., "Sunday Aug. 6th 1775, I rise early, before any of the family, except the negro girl. Just at my bed head a window under which stands a table. Here I laid my
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THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
clean linen finished last night by Mrs. Potter. The night had been very stormy. When I awoke, I found a large dog had jumped in through an open of the window, and had softly bedded himself dripping with water and mud among my clean washed clothes. At first I was enraged, I bore it however with a sabbath day's moderation.
" At one, we commenced services in Capt. Potter's house, Only eight men and not one woman besides the family present. We had in the morning a most violent storm, I preached two sermons, with only ten minutes intermission-a most violent, boisterous day. My little con- gregation heard with eagerness. Capt. Potter tells me, there are only twenty eight (28) families in the valley; twenty two (22) of these are subscribers, and they have raised £40 (equal to $5.00 per family) to pay supplies."
The formation of a Presbyterian society in the Penn's Valley may be confidently predicated as of the year 1775; for the following year, May 22, 1776, application was made to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia by the Presbyterian Society for supplies. (See Records of the Presbyterian Church.)
The families forming the congregation were the Allenders, Arthurs, Caldwells, Davis, John Hall, Hustons, Livingstons, McCormicks, Mc- Dowells, McGrews, McMullins, McVicars, Moores, Orrs, Captain Pot- ter, Reeds, Reynolds, Thomas Thompson, William Thompson, Sr., John Watson, Wilsons, and George Woods. No records of this early society have been preserved ; but George McCormick, John Watson, and George Woods were of the early elders.
In the fall of 1777, Robert McKim, a stanch Presbyterian, came into the valley. He was precentor,-that is, leader of the congregation in the Psalmody.
Like other congregations of the period, there was probably no formal organization of the congregation ; hence the term " society" assumed or applied to frontier congregations. Usually elders, ordained elsewhere, were of the early settlers; to these the people paid respect and gathered about for worship. A paper was circulated for subscriptions for supplies, and the supplies, finding the people thus banded together, proceeded to preach the word and administer the ordinances without disturbing the voluntary organizations. Such, at least, is the tradition.
At that time the centre of the Presbyterian community was Spring Mills, and the congregation was known afterwards as East Penn's Valley Congregation. We have no record of the erection of a house of worship
.
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OF THE PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON.
prior to the abandonment of the valley in 1779 in consequence of Indian raids.
The inhabitants returned in 1784, and soon afterwards the Log Church comes into notice : the first in the valley and county of any de- nomination. Its site, a little east of Penn Hall, is sentinelled by the lone marble slab of its first regular pastor, the Rev. James Martin.
Soon after the return of the people, the congregation, by reason of the extent of the territory occupied, naturally separated into the congre- gations of East and West Penn's Valley, and so appears in the records. To accommodate the West Penn's Valley, General James Potter gave ten acres of ground for a church and burial purposes, near the present site of Linden Hall. Logs were hewn and hauled for a church, but a dis- pute arising about the location of the building, the church was never roofed; and the graveyard, where lie some of the Potters, Kings, and Culbertsons, only remains to indicate where the Cedar Creek Church was, in part, erected.
The first settled pastor within the present bounds of Centre County was the Rev. James Martin. He accepted a call from East and West Penn's Valley, Warrior Marks, and Half Moon congregations April 15, 1789. He removed and lived on what has long been known as the Musser Place, Gregg Township, a little eastward of Penn Hall; and the East Penn's Valley Church was erected on his land. The West Penn's Valley part of Mr. Martin's charge originally covered the territory occu- pied by Cedar Creek and Spring Creek, with the head of Cedar Creek as its location for preaching. But soon after Mr. Martin's settlement, population increasing rapidly, Spring Creek or a point on the Slab Cabin Branch of Spring Creek was also chosen as a place or station for preach- ing. At that time what had been called the West Penn's Valley congre- gation resolved itself into the two churches called Cedar Creek and Spring Creek, and the name of West Penn's Valley was dropped, as the name of Cedar Creek was subsequently, all, or nearly all, being absorbed by Spring Creek, with a few families going to Sinking Creek in the bounds of what was the territory of the East Penn's Valley congrega- tion.
David Whitehill came into the valley and settled near the end of Nittany Mountain in the year 1789, and soon after presented a site for a church and burial-ground on the Slab Cabin Branch of Spring Creek, where a church was soon after erected. Among its first elders were David Whitehill, Esq., Thomas Ferguson (afterwards Judge Ferguson),
·
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THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
David Barr, and George McCormick, who had removed from Spring Mills to the Slab Cabin neighborhood.
On the 9th of April, 1794, the Rev. David Wiley was installed pastor of Cedar Creek and Spring Creek congregations. Among the members of his congregation in 1794 were Hon. Adam Gregg, David McKim, Samuel Wilson, Peter Wilson, M. Long, James Graham, Samuel Graham, Thomas Sankey, James Potter, John Reynolds, William Reynolds, John Mayberry, James Cook, William Pastorius, George Robinson, John Bar- ker, Esq., Henry Thompson, James Wilson, and John Pedan.
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