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 7
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There appears to have been at a very early period a log church in Lack Township, Juniata County, at what is now known as McWilliams's Graveyard, about three miles above Waterford.
In speaking of the churches in Juniata County, I desire to mention an incident which may not be out of place here. When I was a boy, Rev. John Hutchison was a frequent visitor at my father's, and I was present on one occasion when Mr. Hutchison told my father this incident. He said at one time he was on his way to Bellefonte to preach for Rev. James Linn, and on the Seven Mountains he was stopped by two noted highwaymen, Lewis and Clark, who infested the mountains of Centre County. After robbing him of all the money he had and his watch, he said to them, "Now, men, I wish you would let me have fifty cents back ; I am going to Bellefonte to preach, and I have not a cent to pay my way." Lewis said to him, "Are you a minister ?" Father Hutchison answered, "I am, and am going to Bellefonte to preach for Mr. Linn." Then Lewis said to Clark, "Give this man back his watch and money." To this Clark demurred, but Lewis made him do it, and said, "We do not rob poor men nor ministers, for they are paid little enough." So
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Father Hutchison got his money and watch back and went on his way rejoicing.
The earliest record of any preaching I can find in what is now Mifflin County was in August, 1766, by Rev. Charles Beatty, the home mis- sionary spoken of before, in Bratton Township, on the farm of Andrew Bratton, now owned by Mrs. Anna Kyle. No church building was there then, and Mr. Beatty, in his journal, says it was the first preaching in that section. Shortly after this a log church was built on that farm. Illustrating the character of the men and the spirit of the times, Hon. A. S. Wilson, president judge of Mifflin County for many years, told me this anecdote, which he said he could vouch for as being true. There was a man in Bratton Township who was an avowed infidel, by the name of Leeter, and one James Ross, a strong Presbyterian, who lisped. A travelling minister or missionary came along, and notice was sent around that there would be preaching in this Bratton Church. Leeter and Ross both went to the preaching, and occupied seats side by side on the back seat. In the course of the sermon the preacher said something Leeter did not approve of, and he said, "That's a lie." Ross flared up and said, " Thrue, every word of it." The preacher went on, and again said some- thing still more offensive to Leeter, who remarked, " That's a lie." Ross replied, " You're a liar." With this the two men grappled each other. Ross threw Leeter, and the preacher stopped. Ross, who had Leeter down and was pounding him, shouted out to the preacher, " Just you go on and never mind us, and I will soon settle this fellow," and settle him he did.
In 1783, Rev. Matthew Stevens settled in Bratton Township and preached along the river, in Granville, Bratton, and Wayne Townships, then called Derry and Wayne. At the October meeting of Presbytery, 1797, he received a call to Shaver's Creek congregation, and in June, 1798, he was installed pastor there.
The Donegal Presbytery of April, 1775, appointed supplies for the following places within the bounds of what is now Huntingdon Pres- bytery : Kishacoquillas, Holliday's Mill, Shirley, Upper Tuscarora, Lower Tuscarora, Penn's Valley, Bald Eagle, Bedford, and Frankstown (near Hollidaysburg). Rev. John Linn was appointed as a supply to Bedford, etc. At the June meeting of that Presbytery, two months later, Rev. Philip V. Fithian was appointed to labor for three months in this region.
Friday, June 3, 1775, he came through the Narrows into Tuscarora Valley. He rode down the valley to the Juniata River. Sunday, June
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5, he preached at Cedar Spring. Here he found Rev. Samuel Ken- nedy, with whom the congregation were having trouble. From here he went to Northumberland, Sunbury, etc. July 31, 1775, he reached Bald Eagle's Nest, near Milesburg, Centre County, and the next day held service there, at which some Indians were present. On Sunday, August 6, he preached two sermons in Captain Potter's house (afterwards General James Potter) in Penn's Valley, only eight men and not one woman in attendance besides the family, as a violent storm was prevailing. He was the second preacher that had ever been in the valley. Rev. William Linn had been there the two Sabbaths previous. Captain Potter told him there were only twenty-eight families in Penn's Valley. They had raised forty pounds to pay for supplies.
In 1776 it is evident there was an organized congregation in Penn's Valley, as it made that year an application to Synod for supplies, but the valley was abandoned during the winter of 1779-80, and the settlers did not return until 1784.
In April, 1789, Rev. James Martin was called to the churches of Penn's Valley, Warrior's Mark, and Half Moon. The Huntingdon Presbytery was organized in his church in Penn's Valley the second Tuesday of April, 1795. After leaving Penn's Valley, Mr. Fithian came into Kishacoquillas Valley, and on Sunday, August 13, 1775, preached in a meadow of Judge Brown's, where Reedsville now stands. Mr. Brown gave him twenty shillings and nine pence. August 20 he preached twice at West Kishacoquillas in Mr. Brotherton's barn, and John McDowell gave him twenty shillings. While Mr. Fithian was preach- ing here, Rev. Mr. Rhea was preaching in another part of the valley, probably along the Juniata River.
Prior to 1783 a log church was erected in Kishacoquillas Valley, about a mile and a half east of Reedsville. The congregation had no settled pastor until March 15, 1783, at which time the people made out a call, signed by sixty-nine men, for the Rev. James Johnson to become their pastor, which call he accepted. This call was written by Master Arnold, a school-teacher. It does not appear to have ever been presented to Presbytery. The following is a copy of it :
" MR. JAMES JOHNSON, preacher of the Gospel :
SIR,-We, the subscribers, members of the United Congregation of East and West Kishacoquillas, having never in this place had the stated administration of the Gospel ordinances, yet highly prizing the same,
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and having a view to the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ and the Spiritual Edification of ourselves and families, have set ourselves to obtain that blessing among us, and therefore, as we have had the oppor- tunity of some of your labors in this place, and are satisfied with your soundness, piety, and ministerial ability to break unto us the Bread of Life, we do most heartily and sincerely, in the name of the Great Shep- herd of the Flock, Jesus Christ, call and invite you to come and take the pastoral charge and oversight of us in the Lord. And for. your en- couragement we do promise, if God shall dispose your heart to embrace this call, that we will give a dutifull attention to the Word and Ordi- nances of God by you administered; that we will be subject to your admonitions and reproofs, should our falls and miscarriages expose us there-to, and will submit to the discipline of the church, exercised by you, agreeably to the Word of God; and also that we will treat persons with friendship and respect, and behave in all things toward you as becomes christians always should towards their pastor who labors among them in word and doctrine. And farther, as we are persuaded that those who serve at the Alter should live by the Alter, we do promise, in order that you may be, as much as possible, free from worldly incumbrances, to provide for your comfortable and honorable maintenance in the man- ner set forth in our Subscription Papers accompanying this, our Call, during your continuance with us as our Regular Pastor. And in witness of our hearty desire to have you settle among us we have herewith set our Names this Fifteenth day of March, Anno Domini, 1783 :
William Brown. Robert Allison.
Robert Barnhill.
James Scott.
James McCay.
William Young.
John Cooper.
William Fleming.
James S. McClure.
William Corbet.
William McAlevy.
Thomas Arthurs.
John McManigle.
William Harper.
Thomas Alexander.
Samuel Mitchell.
James Alexander.
Samuel Alexander.
Hugh Martin. James Reed.
Samuel Wills.
Mathew Taylor.
James Glass.
William McNitt.
Joseph Adams.
Thomas Brown.
Philip Clover.
John McNitt.
Alex. McNitt.
William Wilson.
Eligah Crisseell.
David Kelly. Arthur Buchanan.
Robert McNitt.
John Fleming.
Joseph Brown.
Thomas Thompson.
Alex. Brown, Jr.
John Means.
Joseph Mckibbens.
Edm. Richardson.
James Means.
James Laughlin.
William Miller.
Matthew Kenny.
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Robert Gardner.
Benj. Hall.
James Reed, Jr.
Benj. Cresswell.
Robert Mcclellan.
Henry Taylor.
William Miller, Jr.
Elisha Cresswell.
Joseph Wesley.
Thomas Sankey.
William Mitchell.
William Thompson.
James Burns.
John Cubertson.
John McDowell.
Abraham Sanford.
Robert Campbell.
John Kyle.
Samuel Milliken.
Samuel Hower.
David Barr.
Joseph Haslett.
Neal McManigle.
John Reed."
I see that this call to East and West Kishacoquillas Church was signed by a number of settlers in and around Lewistown. Arthur Bu- chanan, who took out the warrant for the land where Lewistown now stands, signed this call.
From Kishacoquillas Valley Mr. Fithian went to Huntingdon. There was no organized church there then, but as early as April, 1790, Rev. John Johnson accepted a call for one-half his time to Huntingdon and its neighborhood. He had previously-to wit, November 14, 1787- been installed pastor of Hart's Log and Shaver's Creek. The last congre- gation Mr. Fithian visited on this tour was at Fort Shirley, near Shir- leysburg, Huntingdon County. He preached August 27, 1775, in Mr. James Foley's barn. Although the day was stormy, fifty or more people were present.
Judge William M. Hall writes me that there was an organized Pres- byterian church at Bedford as early as 1763, and that Rev. Charles Beatty preached there in 1758. They had no settled pastor until 1786, when a call was given to Rev. David Bard, who accepted and remained their pastor for three years. In June, 1790, he accepted a call to Frankstown congregation, and remained there until 1799.
In 1786, Carlisle Presbytery was organized, and the churches under its care, within the bounds of the present limits of Huntingdon Presby- tery, were Bedford, Derry, and Wayne, on the Juniata, Kishacoquillas, and Hart's Log and Shaver's Creek, with pastors ; and without pastors, Great Aughwick, Standing Stone (Huntingdon), Frankstown, near Hol- lidaysburg, and Penn's Valley. And the ministers, Hugh McGill, James Martin, James Johnson, Matthew Stevens, John Johnson, David Bard, and John Hoge. As stated before, the early settlers in this Presbytery were mainly Scotch and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and some Huguenots and Reformed Dutch from Holland. These men were strong in the faith, brought their Bibles, Confessions of Faith, and Catechisms with
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them, organized congregations without delay, and sought supplies of ministers to preach to them. And the Synod and Presbyteries of Done- gal and Carlisle reached out to the frontiers with a true home missionary spirit. And as the Apostolic Church sent Paul and Silas and Barnabas and Mark out on missionary tours, so did the Synod and Presbyteries co-operate with the frontier settlements and sent out to them earnest and consecrated preachers.
These, I take it, were the causes of the establishing of Presbyterianism in Huntingdon Presbytery.
THE BENCH AND BAR DURING THE PAST CENTURY, VIEWED FROM A PRESBYTERIAN STAND-POINT.
JUDGE AUGUSTUS S. LANDIS.
IN coming to make a retrospect of the " Bench and Bar" of this Presbytery during the past century, it is discovered that the task is a dif- ficult one, because of the meagre supply of information useful for the purpose, and the utter absence in many respects of material which the historian needs to accomplish his work. When I note the particularity with which the events of to-day are recorded,-though much of the matter is ephemeral,-I am surprised to discover that there is still some- thing which some one's industry or patience has collected, or another's conservatism has recorded and preserved.
From some delving, however, into the past, and arraying the re- covered objects of the search side by side in the light, there is furnished a new view of your Presbyterial history, and an impression perhaps that is the more gratifying to your mind, as you learn that, after the planting of your colonies in these valleys, raising the standards of your faith, and sowing the seed of gospel teaching,-the gospel as you teach it to-day,- that seed has sprung, and down through the century has fructified into a harvest that well attests the careful sowing and the healthful seed. What effect has it had upon the intelligent and educated mind ?
The territory now embraced within the boundaries of the Huntingdon Presbytery are the counties of Blair, Clearfield, Centre, Bedford, Hunt- ingdon, Mifflin, and Juniata. They contain an area of five thousand five hundred and fifty-three square miles, and now a population of over three hundred thousand. In 1791, when the Commonwealth was for the first
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time organized into judicial districts, the fourth judicial district embraced all of this territory, together with other territory now without the bounds of our Presbytery. The towns and villages were small, and the population sparse.
The judicial establishment was in a primitive condition. Court- houses were almost, if not entirely, unknown as such throughout the district. Rooms in inns and other buildings were temporarily used for the unfrequent sessions of the courts, and both judges and lawyers made the circuit of the district over such roads and with such means of trans- portation as could be commanded at the time.
Such traditions, however, as we have show that the dignity of the court was maintained, its orders and decrees were respected, its judg- ments enforced, and justice impartially administered. Above all, the judicial history of the century seems to show that this district contained the ablest judges in the Commonwealth, and certainly that more came into prominence in the history of the State's judiciary than from any other district. No less than five of these judges were advanced to the Supreme Bench of the State, and their eminence for learning and in- tegrity has won for them an enduring name, and justified their selection for the judicial office. All of them worshipped under the Presbyterian faith, and their names are therefore properly to be associated with your Presbyterial view of the century in the department of the "Bench and the Bar."
When, under the law organizing the State into judicial districts, Governor Mifflin, in 1791, appointed Thomas Smith judge of the fourth district, he probably selected one of the most learned and upright mem- bers of the bar. He was a half-brother of Dr. William Smith, of Phila- delphia, who founded the town of Huntingdon, and was, in his day, well known through this part of Pennsylvania, his name having been associ- ated with the location of large bodies of unseated lands at that time. In the Supreme Court he found Shippen and Tilghman and Yeates,- still familiar names to the legal profession,-and successfully maintained himself as their associate in that court of review. I learn that he was one of the early Presbyterians of this neighborhood, and he heads the list of a long line of judges and lawyers of that denomination.
When Judge Smith was appointed to the Supreme Court, in 1794, Governor Mifflin appointed James Riddle, a lawyer residing in Bedford, as judge of this district. Judge Riddle came to Bedford from Chambers- burg, and continued as the presiding judge until 1804. He occupied
.
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the bench just one hundred years ago, and it is said he was likewise a Presbyterian.
He was succeeded by Thomas Cooper, who was appointed by Gov- ernor Thomas Mckean in 1804. Little is known of him. My informa- tion is that he was a Presbyterian. He presided but a little over one year, when, under a new judicial apportionment of the State in 1806, he was assigned to another district. This reapportionment made the fourth judicial district practically the territory of the present Presbytery.
In 1806 the same governor appointed Jonathan Hodge Walker the successor of Judge Cooper. He had been born in Cumberland County, and was educated at Dickinson College; resided in Northumberland, afterwards at Bellefonte, and finally in Huntingdon and Bedford. He was married to a sister of Thomas Duncan, one of the justices of the Supreme Court. He was said to have been a man of high character and an able judge. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and commanded the confidence of his contemporaries. In 1818, President Monroe appointed him judge of the United States District Court at Pittsburg. He was the father of Robert J. Walker, in later years a promi- nent statesman, and who was Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, and by appointment of President Buchanan governor of Kansas in its territorial stage.
Judge Walker was followed by Judge Charles Huston, who resided at Bellefonte, and was appointed by Governor Findlay in 1818. He was a Presbyterian and an eminent judge and author in his day, and was known to many now living. He was in 1826 transferred to the Supreme Bench, and his name has been since a most familiar one to the legal profession.
His translation was followed by the appointment of Thomas Burn- side, by Governor Shulze, in 1826. He, likewise, resided in Bellefonte, and was a Presbyterian, or at least worshipped in that church. He had previously been in political life, having been a member and Speaker of the State Senate, and a member of Congress. Under the amended con- stitution of 1838, Judge Huston's term as Supreme judge expired in 1845, when Judge Burnside was elected to succeed him in that tribunal.
In 1824, Bedford County was detached from this judicial district, and afterwards formed part of the sixteenth district. John Tod, a lawyer of Bedford, became the judge of that district by appointment of Governor Shulze. This man, I am informed, was likewise a Presbyterian, and was an exceedingly able and upright judge. He was commissioned a judge of the Supreme Court in May, 1827, but died in February, 1830.
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He was followed as the judge in the Bedford district by Alexander Thompson, also a Presbyterian, who presided until 1841. Skipping over Judges J. S. Black and F. M. Kimmell, their successors, who were Campbellites or Christians, we find the next Presbyterian judge in that portion of the Presbytery to have been James Nill, who came from Chambersburg, and he was followed by Judge Alexander King, who came of a Presbyterian family.
Judge William Maclay Hall succeeded him for eleven years. He was a Presbyterian, and was the son of a well-known and honored man in this Presbytery, Rev. William M. Hall.
The present judge, Jacob H. Longenecker, is also a Presbyterian. Thus, out of eight judges who specially presided in Bedford County, five if not six were Presbyterians.
Taking Centre County next, which was erected in 1800, we find that after Judge Thomas Burnside, of whom I have already spoken, was ap- pointed from this district to the Supreme Bench, he was succeeded by Judge James Burnside and Judge Samuel Linn. The latter was a Pres- byterian. Judge Orvis succeeded him, and he was followed by Judge Adam Hoy, who was a Presbyterian. Judge A. O. Furst, also a Presby- terian, followed Judge Hoy, and completed his term the first Monday of the current year. Of these nine judges, therefore, who held the courts of this county during the century, three of them were members of, or attendants upon, other churches, and six of them were Presbyterians. These figures in this respect show the dominating influence of Presby- terianism in this portion of the Presbytery. The century closed as it began,-its judicial mind worshipping in the Presbyterian faith.
Clearfield County was formed in 1804, and constituted part of the fourth judicial district. After the retirement of Judge Thomas Burnside, the judges were J. T. Hale, James Burnside, Samuel Linn, J. B. McEnally, Charles A. Mayer, J. H. Orvis, and David L. Krebs. With the exception of Judge McEnally and Judge Krebs, all were residents of Centre County, and I have already indicated their denominational affiliations. Of the non-residents, two if not three were worshippers in the Presbyterian Church. Of the residents, Judge Krebs was a member of the Presby- byterian Church. Judge Cyrus Gordon, at present on the bench of this county, is an active member of the Presbyterian Church.
Huntingdon County was organized in 1787, and in age is next to Bedford County,-that county, organized in 1771, being the oldest in the Presbytery. But Huntingdon seems at the beginning of the century to
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have been the centre of business, population, and public intercourse. The judges and its bar seem to have been most conspicuous, and whilst Centre and perhaps Clearfield were eminent for their bars, this county embraces a wider and more remarkable history than any of her sisters, and, it is believed, can produce a longer list of admissions to member- ship than any other bar in the Presbytery.
When Judge Thomas Burnside ceased to hold courts in this county, he was succeeded by Judge Geo. W. Woodward, of Wilkesbarre, who remained here but one year, to be followed by Judge Abraham S. Wilson, an appointee of Governor David R. Porter.
Judge Woodward was an Episcopalian. He became very conspic- uous in after-years as a judge of the Supreme Court and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1873. He had been appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President Polk in 1845, whilst presiding over the courts of this county, but political influence prevented his confirmation by the Senate.
Judge Wilson was a Presbyterian, and a dignified, painstaking, and popular judge. He continued in his position till George Taylor, in 1849, was appointed as the first judge of the new twenty-fourth judicial district, composed of Huntingdon, Blair, and Cambria Counties. He was elected under the amended constitution in 1851, and was re-elected in 1861. He served till almost the end of his second term. Judge Taylor, by educa- tion, profession, and association, was a Presbyterian. He was not only an able lawyer, he was a fearless, conscientious judge. His powers of judicial discrimination and conclusion were of the highest character, and his opinions were accepted by the profession at large with convincing confidence. The writer saw, as a member of his bar, all of his career after 1856, and can pleasurable attest the possession of his great powers, and deplore his sudden and untimely demise.
Judge John Dean, by election in 1871, succeeded Judge Taylor in the same district, though not long after, under the new constitution of 1874, he withdrew to his own district, the county of Blair, to be followed by Judge A. O. Furst in the new district of Centre and Huntingdon. As already stated, Judge Furst is a Presbyterian, as was also Judge Dean ; and thus it is seen that with but few exceptions this county's judges have all been members or worshippers in that faith.
Mifflin County was organized in 1789, and was also part of the great fourth judicial district. After Judge Thomas Burnside ceased to preside in its courts as the judge of the fourth district, he was followed by Judge
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Woodward, an Episcopalian, and he consecutively by Judge A. S. Wilson, Judge Samuel S. Woods,-a brother of our brother elder, D. W. Woods,-Judge Joseph C. Bucher, and the present Judge Harold M. McClure, all of whom were Presbyterians or of Presbyterian stock and worship. Thus, after Judge Burnside, there have presided over the courts of this county five judges, of whom four were of Presbyterian connection.
Juniata County was formed from Mifflin in 1831, and during the intervening period has had eight president judges. Of these, all were Presbyterians except Judge Frederick Watts, an Episcopalian, who resided at Carlisle, and Judge John Reed, resident in the same city, who was also possibly an Episcopalian. Judges Calvin Blythe, the first judge, and he had been attorney-general in 1828, Samuel Hepburn, James H. Graham, Benjamin F. Junkin, Charles A. Barnett, and Jeremiah Lyons, the present judge, six in all, were Presbyterians, and resided, some in Mifflintown and others in New Bloomfield, Perry County, not within the bounds of this Presbytery, though Perry County had originally formed part of Huntingdon Presbytery. The Presbyterian preponderance in this court is easily conspicuous, and though in that early day remote from Centre and Bedford Counties, its churchly proclivities were in harmony with theirs, thus showing the wide prevalence of the Presby- terian thought and influence.
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