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 8
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Blair County is the youngest of the organized counties in the Pres- bytery, it having come into existence as such in February, 1846,- formed from Huntingdon and Bedford Counties. Its proximity to Hun- tingdon, geographically and commercially, has produced a professional intimacy and comity that are contemporaneous with this county's exist- ence. The judges, till Judge Furst followed Dean, had been judges in Blair County, and its bar for years was common with that of Blair; and even now there is an intercourse and a reciprocity as frequent as they are mutual and pleasant.
The county has had five judges. The great name of Judge J. S. Black, Christian, heads the list. He came from Somerset, where he lived, to hold the quarterly sessions till 1849, when Judge George Taylor, of Huntingdon, was appointed and elected, and was upon the bench till his death, in November, 1871. Judge John Dean succeeded him for twenty-two years, and he was followed by the writer upon a commission from Governor Robert E. Pattison. Judge Martin Bell, a Baptist, is the present incumbent. Of these five judges, three were Presbyterians, covering a period of forty-five years of judicial administration out of
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almost fifty years. One of them, Judge Dean, has since become a justice of the Supreme Court of the State, by election in 1892.
Thus it is seen that on the bench throughout the old fourth district, which, as already stated, was territorially about what your Presbytery now is, during the century the members of the court were almost wholly Presbyterians. The judicial system during that time embraced the appointment of lay judges, who sat with the law judges, and assisted in the disposition of the public business. The constitution of 1873 has abolished this custom in single districts, but it was up to that time a wise and useful provision. They were commissioned only to sit in the county of residence, and their knowledge of men and local affairs furnished valuable aid to the president of the court.
Whilst these men were selected because of their intelligence, promi- nence, and probity, and the confidence which they had won from their neighbors, many of them became eminent in other departments of life, and they left their impress upon the times in which they lived.
I cannot here undertake to enumerate any of them, but such history and tradition of which I have availed myself show that very many of the most prominent and respected of them were members of, or elders in, the Presbyterian Church.
I come now to the bar, and it is to be said it was throughout the district no less denominational in its ecclesiastical connections than the bench. The members of the court came from the bar, and it can per- haps, therefore, reasonably be said ab uno disce omnes.
Beginning at Bedford as before, we find many names of lawyers who were men of eminence and strength. Not referring again to those of them who became judges, we have the Riddles, James and Samuel, John and William Lyon, the Espys, Reynolds, and Blodgett ; Samuel L. Rus- sell, long an eminent lawyer, is only recently deceased. He was a man of great integrity and industry, and by his genial nature won many friends. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1873, having been elected from the twenty-first senatorial district with the late Mr. Curry and the writer of this paper. I am pleased here to testify to his warm friendship and his many excellences.
Francis Jordan, now a resident of Harrisburg, was from the Bedford bar. He was commissioned secretary of the Commonwealth January 16, 1867, and removed to Harrisburg, where he has since remained in the practice of the law. William P. Schell was elected and commissioned auditor-general of the State May 8, 1878.
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Besides these there were Job Mann, who was State treasurer in 1842, Samuel H. Tate, and other members, living and dead, whom we cannot undertake to name, but who have, by their training and their labors, given a high character to a bar which has during the century dwelt in the most southern portion of your Presbyterial territory.
Centre County has abounded in eminent names. It seemed, in the early part of the century, to have been the nursery of judges. Walker, Huston, Burnside, Hale, Burnside the younger, and Linn all came from this county. The bar itself enrolls many eminent names. Mr. W. W. Potter, John Blanchard, H. N. McAllister, Andrew G. Curtin, James A. Beaver, William P. Wilson, James McManus, James H. Rankin, James P. Coburn, are prominent and Presbyterian names. Two of them, Mr. Potter and Mr. Blanchard, were members of Congress, and two of them, Curtin and Beaver, are known as having been governors of the Com- monwealth, and the same community produced the present executive, Governor Daniel H. Hastings. Whilst a number of these men have been active in the church, it would be highly fitting to particularize the name of Mr. McAllister. In every object in which he was interested he employed an energy that was exceptional and surprising. With a strong mind and apparently rugged health he worked without relaxation, with the one intent of success. When a duty was imposed on him he seemed to think it rested wholly on him, and then followed the conscientious devotion to the task. In professional labor, as a member of this Pres- bytery or its committees, it was the same. His devotion to his church was a radiant feature in his busy, useful life ; and if, in his day, the church has added anything to its strength and its grandeur, Mr. McAllister must be remembered as an earnest workman who wrought upon its walls.
He died in 1873 whilst a member of the Constitutional Convention, of which he was an industrious and able member, and was succeeded in that body by Hon. Samuel Calvin, of Blair County.
The bar in Clearfield County has not been so large as in other counties, and until connected with the great railroad system of the Commonwealth this county's communication with the great highways which lay farther south was difficult and infrequent. But here Presby- terianism has always had a strong hold. Her people have availed them- selves of the great natural resources which surrounded them and have converted them into enduring wealth. The prominent men embrace among them many of your faith, and the names of some of them are widely known within and without the Commonwealth. William Bigler,
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elected governor in 1851 and United States senator in 1855, went from the town of Clearfield; and in the same year, 1851, his brother was elected governor of California. Isaac G. Gordon had been a member of this bar, and was an active Presbyterian. He removed to Jefferson County, and in October, 1873, was elected and commissioned a justice of the Supreme Court of the State. William A. Wallace, of the same place, was elected to the State Senate from 1863 to 1875 and from 1883 to 1886. He was also the speaker of that body in 1871, and he was the United States senator from 1875 to 1881 from this State. Other names of active churchmen might be given as residents of this county, and we are told of the earnest support which the pastors have received from that class of men to which our attention has been directed. At this time I am informed the bar membership is largely Presbyterian.
Huntingdon has the honor of giving name to your Presbytery. Her history and her traditions justify it. In a great measure she was the centre around which revolved the affairs of a planted and a steadily nascent church. It was the point convergent to which looked the eyes of widely-scattered churches in a then immense field. Improved trans- portation has obliterated space, and it is still old Huntingdon Presby- tery, and it is all here to-day without the struggles of a hundred years ago.
Outside of the ministry there are many influential and eminent names. The long list of judges I have given you. They had been prominent lawyers, but their selection did not embrace all. The secular history of the county shows a large number of strong and noted men whom we cannot name ; and though a majority were of this church, other churches have reason to be proud of their record:
In the matter of governors this district has been liberal to the peo- ple of the Commonwealth. I have shown that four were taken from Centre and Clearfield Counties, and a fifth must be added by naming David R. Porter, who was the first governor elected under the constitu- tion of 1838. He had long been the prothonotary of this county, but was elected governor of the Commonwealth, and continued in that office till January, 1845. It is possible that the name of Governor John W. Geary should also be added, as he for a number of years resided near the boundary line of Blair and Cambria Counties, though on which side I am not informed.
William A. Porter, an earnest Presbyterian, a son of Governor Por- ter, became an eminent lawyer, and in January, 1858, was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.
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Among the oldest deceased lawyers of the county we recall the name of Alexander Gwin, who was the district attorney when McCon- aughy was convicted of murder. This was the occasion on which George Taylor made the great effort of his earlier life, and which later made him judge.
John Williamson, a genial and witty man, died some years ago an octogenarian. He had represented his county in the Legislature. Gen- eral A. P. Wilson was a noted and unique character in his day, and though he was an Episcopalian, he was said to have been a constant supporter of the Presbyterian Church.
David Blair, John Reed, and A. W. Benedict were lawyers and mem- bers of the Legislature, and all were widely known and respected. John G. Miles was a familiar character in all the bars of the former judicial district. He was a stalwart Presbyterian, as he was the stalwart lawyer and the rugged man. His erudite arguments, delivered with de- liberate directness and nervous vehemence, made an impression which the young lawyer of his day could not forget, and which the older adversary always felt. His name occurs often in the reports, and they perpetuate the wonder at his unwearied industry. His settlement as executor of the great Shoenberger estate was the last work of his life, and its extent and intricacies made the task almost superhuman. The chiselled boulder that lies upon his grave on yonder hill fitly symbolizes the man.
William P. Orbison, William Dorris, and John Scott are names familiar to every Presbyter. They are living, and have always been known as interested in and associated with the work of the church. Mr. Orbison was at one time a law partner of James M. Bell, well known in this and in Blair County ; and Mr. Dorris was the partner of Mr. Miles for many years. He had some military experience in commanding a regiment of militia, which he marched to Chambersburg to repel the advance of a Confederate division from Antietam. Colonel Dorris has been for many years counsel for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and has tried many important cases. He has long been a member of the session of the church in which we are now assembled.
Mr. Scott was long one of the leaders of this bar, and achieved by his own efforts and qualities an envied reputation. His partners while in Huntingdon have been Samuel T. Brown and John M. Bailey, * promi-
* Mr. Bailey has since been elected judge of Huntingdon and Mifflin Counties. .
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nent and able Presbyterian lawyers, and after leaving this county he be- came the solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was a member of the Legislature in 1861, and entered the United States Senate in March, 1869. He is also at present a ruling elder in Dr. Dana's church in West Philadelphia, where he resides.
We forbear to speak more of living lawyers, and will name only Robert Milton Speer, who came to the bar in 1860, and died in January, 1890. He was elected to Congress in 1870 and 1872 against a very popular opponent. He was a brilliant and successful lawyer ; he was fluent, earnest, and eloquent, and before a court or a jury possessed a magnetism and a power that often captured if they did not convince. His all too early removal was sincerely mourned by many friends. His relations with the writer were so friendly and warm that I may be in- dulged in this passing tribute.
He was Presbyterian in his faith, as are the surviving members of his family, his son, Robert Speer, being already well known in the church, and his son William is known as a lawyer and an editor of a daily news- paper at Albany, New York.
Mifflin County has furnished some strong names, who were not only men of culture, but also were upright in their lives, and worshipped and labored in your church. Among them I name John Banks, who came to the bar in 1819, and who afterwards became the Common Pleas judge in Berks County, and was a Whig candidate for governor of the Com- monwealth. Ephraim Banks was for many years the superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and an elder for forty years of the church at Lewis- town. He became the auditor-general of the State in May, 1851. In the latter part of his life he was an associate judge of his county. W. M. Hall came to this bar in 1823. He had studied divinity, was said to be a man of cultured taste, and died a member of the bar. General T. F. McCoy, a soldier and an elder, E. L. Benedict, Joseph W. Parker, and David Candor, all deceased, were Presbyterian names. D. W. Woods, George W. Elder, T. M. Utley, and Andrew Reed are conspicu- ous among living members of this bar. The first has long been an hon- ored name in your church, and he seals it with our approval to-day by his learnedly enlightening us as to "The Sources of Presbyterianism in your Presbytery." We might justly name others, but we pass on.
Juniata County has had, for a small county, quite a large bar, and it would seem that a large majority of them were Presbyterians, though not always professed or communing members of the church.
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Hon. James P. Sterrett was a member of this bar. He afterwards removed to Pittsburg, became a judge there, and was in 1878 elected a justice, and later commissioned the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth.
Edmund S. Doty was long the leader of the bar. Andrew Parker had been, and Ezra D. Parker, his son, received the mantle from his father. Mr. Doty was for many years an elder, and his was a familiar face at your sessions. His sons were nearly all lawyers, and Lucien W. Doty is at present the president judge in Westmoreland County.
Colonel A. K. McClure, of Philadelphia, came out of this strong Presbyterian bar. He, however, worships with our Methodist brethren, but I hope with good opinion of the Calvinistic friends he left behind.
George Jacobs, of this bar, died a few years ago, a very promising lawyer. H. H. North, James and John H. Mathers, L. C. Adams, W. S. Wilson, Jacob A. Christy, Alfred J. Patterson, C. W. Kelso, J. H. Neely, and many others whom I might name, are on the lawyers roll of this county, and exhibit, as did the judges I have before named, the proneness of the legal mind to accept the cultus of your church.
In Blair County the first court was held on the 27th of July, 1846, by Judge Black. A large number of attorneys was sworn in on that day, embracing gentlemen from all the adjoining counties. Some of these names were prominent as resident lawyers for many ensuing years. Samuel Calvin, Thaddeus Banks, Samuel S. Blair, R. A. McMurtrie, and John Cresswell were long conspicuous as members of this bar. Mr. Banks was the son of Auditor-General Ephraim Banks, of Mifflin County, and was a member of the Legislature in 1862, with Senator John Scott and Judge Cyrus L. Pershing, now of Pottsville. Mr. Calvin was a member of the Thirty-first Congress, and was long known as the " father of the bar." Mr. Blair was an elder, and a member of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses. Colonel McMurtrie was a member of the Legislature in 1864. Louis W. Hall, brother of Judge Hall, of Bedford, came here in 1854. In 1860 and 1865 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and was its speaker during his last term. He has since removed to Harrisburg. Benjamin L. Hewit was also for many years a lawyer of prominence. He was a member of the State Legislature in 1872, 1879, 1881, and finally in 1893. Thomas McCamant was a mem- ber of this bar for a number of years, but he became auditor-general of the State, and has since resided in Harrisburg. These gentlemen, except Mr. Hall and Mr. McCamant, are all dead. They were members
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of or worshipped in this church, and stood high in the public estimation and confidence. I might name others of perhaps less prominence, but it will suffice to conclude here the personal reference to the men who have been associated with and have contributed to the local histories of this church, and I draw this sketch to a close.
It is possible I have erred in some respects in this review because of inadequate means of information. But it has been interesting to scan the great field which your fathers, a hundred years ago, took under their Presbyterial care. They set up here the banner of Presbyterianism, and took possession in the name of Christ and the church. Their methods were orderly and wise. They were mostly of Scotch-Irish birth, and possessed the rugged, indomitable spirit of that people. They had the pioneer traits alike to found a state or found a church. But the church dominated their minds. They provided for the present, they planned for the future. In view of their surroundings, they knew it was to be a battle. Many faithful and honored ministers thenceforth marched, and toiled, and fell under the shadow of that banner, and their names are growing ancient as the century waxes to its close. What they preached sprang and grew, and bore, till now we know how well their works have followed them.
Others have told you of the spiritual triumphs of the past, and the solid growth of the church thoughout all your borders. I have endeavored to call your attention to another aspect of your work, and whilst I will not seek to arrogate to my church the possession of an influence and a power to which she is not entitled, I may fairly point to the facts and results afforded by our history to show that she may justly claim an exalted station in the great work of teaching the public mind to perform well the duties not only of the religious but the civic life. With the development of both comes our highest and best civilization. The first will enrich and preserve the other, but the latter must perish without the nurturing sustenance of the first.
In this great work of leading a people through the difficulties and vicissitudes which have attended the century's labors you will pause only to contemplate your victories, and reform your methods where you have erred. With the new means, and men, and wealth now in your hands ; with a country teeming with seats of learning ; with three hundred thousand people within your domain to be influenced by your acts ; with an enthusiasm that has not abated with the years ; with a fervor and a zeal that are born of a quickened conscience; and, above all, with that
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soulful and impelling sense of duty and accountability to the immaculate name you serve, you will, with Him as your captain, go on in this new century, still conquering and to conquer.
PRAYER.
REV. R. M. WALLACE, D.D.
O LORD, our God, we bless and adore thee for what thou art in thy- self,-" glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, a God doing wonders." We bless and adore thee for what thou hast revealed thyself to be in thy word,-the God of the Covenant, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all goodness, mercy, and blessing. And we bless and adore thee for what thou hast shown thyself to be in thy works of providence and grace.
Thou hast unfolded the plan of redemption, and put it into successful operation by the mission, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of thy Son. Thou hast established thy church in the world and made it the pillar and ground of the truth, and ordained that the means of grace should be dispensed from its altars. "And thou gavest, some apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." And thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt and didst plant it in this land, and it took root and grew, and the land was covered with the shadow of it. And away back in the distant past-one hundred years ago-thou didst inspire the hearts of our forefathers with faith and love and zeal for thy glory, and didst prompt them to organize this Presbytery of Huntingdon, beneath whose shadow we are now assembled. We bless thee for its existence, for its history and triumphs, for its reputation for orthodoxy, for the good it has been the means of accomplishing, and for the bright and auspicious outlook before. And, now that we are come to celebrate its one hun- dredth anniversary, do thou be graciously present with us and bless thy servants here assembled : inspire them more and more with zeal for the Master; make them more and more efficient in winning souls for
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Christ. And may they always be filled with and guided by the influences of the Holy Spirit. Bless the eldership, and make them efficient sup- porters and promoters of thy cause. Bless the young, and may they give their young hearts in early life to Christ, remembering that he has said, " I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me." And bless all the churches represented in this Presbytery. Bless the pastor of this church and all his people, and may they be favored again and again with such seasons of the right hand of the Most High as it was once our privilege to witness among them. O Lord, our prayer is before thee. Hear and answer us, for thy name's sake. For- give all our imperfections and unworthiness. And gather us all, at last, into the general assembly and church of the first-born. And unto Father, Son, and Holy Ghost shall be all the praise and glory, world without end. Amen.
THE DEBT AND DUTY OF PRESBYTERIANS.
REV. J. P. E. KUMLER, D.D., Moderator Synod of Pennsylvania.
ON such occasions we naturally look backward as well as forward. We recognize our debt to the past and our duty to the future. Our fathers have labored and we have entered into their labors. We are heirs of a vast and invaluable inheritance which brings with it the solemn obligation to transmit it unimpaired to the generations following. All the arts, inventions, and discoveries that attend our progressive civ- ilization have come to us from the labors of the past. What agony of mind, anxiety of heart, and heroic endeavor they have cost! The for- ward steps are not made by those who glance only at the surface of things, or by those who yield either to inclination or popular opinion. All true progress is up-hill.
" Great truths are dearly bought. Such as men give and take from day to day Come in the common walk of every life, Blown by the careless wind across our way. Great truths are greatly won. Not found by chance Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream,
But grappled in the great struggle of the soul, Hard buffeting with adverse winds and stream."
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The pioneers of our church in this Presbytery a century ago began the work in a scene of loneliness and insufficiency and uncertainty, facing the strongest prejudices and most persistent opposition. It was a time of great poverty, immorality, and infidelity. Their only hope was in God.
The great part of the work of the best spirits of any age must be to oppose the tendency of their times. This was pre-eminently so with the founders of our church in this region. Only noble, self-sacri- ficing minds, armed with a sublime courage, could stand and advance against the existing tendency and powers of evil that confronted them on every side. When we remember that every advance makes a new advance easier, that every correction of social wrong renders right living less difficult, and that every widening of the influence of religion facili- tates its universal triumph, what a vantage-ground do we occupy! Yet with all our increased and improved agencies we complain of the diffi- culties in our way. What, then, must have been the courage, the grit, and the grace of our predecessors a century ago. As we look around us to-day with wondering admiration at what has been achieved, what may we not expect, in the near future, if with our greater facilities, we are as faithful in our day as they were in theirs. We have in trust the same divine treasure of truth and order that they had. And the elements which differentiate our Presbyterianism from other Christian denominations have as important a mission to-day as ever. I need not dwell at length on what these distinguishing features are. It goes with- out saying that we hold in common with other evangelical churches all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. But Presbyterianism is also distinguished both by its polity and its faith, otherwise there would be no justification of our separate existence. There are two principles found in the word of God which determine our Presbyterian polity. The first is the universal priesthood of believers as opposed to all sacer- dotal theories. The one great offering on Calvary put an end to the offi- cial priesthood. The second principle is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sole head of the church, and he has made provision for its government by elders, chosen by the people from among the people and ordained to rule; that the several congregations of believers taken collectively con- stitute the church ; that the larger part should govern the smaller, and consequently that appeals may be carried from the smaller to the larger bodies, till finally decided by the whole church as voiced by its repre- sentatives in its highest judicatory. These two principles distinguish
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