USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > North East > The centennial commemoration of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church, of North East, Pennsylvania > Part 9
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But that was only the beginning of his work. Four or five years later, broken in health from excessive study, he went back to Deposit and again took charge of the same school, and as the Presbyterian ( burch there was vacant he supplied its pulpit for
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two years, during which time occurred one of the most wonder- ful revivals of the century, known as the "Great Awakening," extending up and down the Delaware River for thirty miles, and reaching the worst and most unhopeful classes of the people. These two revivals were especially remarkable in view of the youthfulness of the preacher. But in other respects they were only specimens of revivals which constantly attended his subse- quent ministry for nearly fifty years. All along this Lake Shore, for many miles east and west there were marvellous manifesta- tions of divine power in the conversion of souls. One sermon in Westfield is thought to have resulted in the conversion of twenty-four persons. At his first inquiry meeting here in North East 150 persons crowded into the room, nearly all of whom, and many more besides were brought to Christ, among them that afterward noble preacher, Dr. Cyrus Dickson, once secre- tary of our Board of Home Missions. And not only along this lake shore did Father Orton prosecute his great mission but in other regions as well, Especially in New York State.
Father Orton and his work! Truly, my friends, it was a great work! Only an angel could adequately describe it. We have only touched a small part of it. We are told that the sal- vation of one soul fills the hearts of angels with joy. What sen- sation must have thrilled angelic hearts when tidings of Father Orton's work reached them, for it is believed to be a reasonable estimate that at least 10,000 souls were led to Christ and a new life in connection with his labors!
. There is one church especially that ought to rejoice to-day in this good man's work and memory and that is the Presbyter- ian Church in North East. Here he worked in his younger and vigorous days. Here were reaped some of the richest fruits of his labors. Here he rested in his later and feebler years, going in and out before this people day by day, as an angel of God, shedding around him a most hallowed influence and leaving a most precious memory which they ought ever to cherish with the tenderest affection and gratitude.
"Though dead, he yet speaketh." Dearly beloved, let us listen to his voice, the echoes of which still linger in the cars of so many of us. Let us never forget his wise counsel, his earn- est prayer, nor cease to be grateful to our Heavenly Father for bringing us into familiar association with one of the noblest of Ilis saints.
REV. AUGUSTUS H. CARRIER, D. D. 1859-1863.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
A MEMORIAL TO THE DECEASED PASTORS OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH EAST.
By Rev. A. H. Carrier, D. D.
The interesting subject thus assigned me on this notable oc- casion I have heartily welcomed. I am glad, as one of your old- est living pastors, to pay my tribute of respect, on your behalf, to the memory of the faithful dead.
The church which observes now its centennial was fortunate indeed in the spiritual earnestness of the men who laid its foun- dations. I recall my vivid impressions of this as I now go back in memory to a discourse which I prepared when we were about leaving our time-honored "frame church" to enter the new brick church that we had just completed.
The sturdy character of such men as Elisha Macurdy, Joseph Stockton, John McPherrin, greatly impressed me. I could not help envying them their privilege of thus laying the foundation for many generations. I used to listen eagerly to what was told me by the oldest members of the church concerning the log church built amidst the trees of what is now the cemetery.
I once with some one drove past a field in which was pointed out to me what remained of the old church at Middlebrook. There were a few logs remaining, but going fast to decay. The church was built, we are told, in a single day by the sturdy pioneers with their axes; never a nail in the whole structure: the roof of slabs, and the seats of something similar.
Doubtle-a this was repeated in the making of the log church in your cemetery forest. I looked with a sort of reverence upon those crumbling logs in Middlebrook and said to myself, "a cane carved from one of those logs would count with me tenfold more than the best gold-headed one from the timbers of Commodore Perry's fleet preserved in the waters of Erie harbor, and furnish- ing such souvenirs, as I remember." Much as I honor Perry's exploit. I ha,. bigher honor for the religious heroism of the mien who thus bridled here. While I would not say that the men and women of a hundred years ago were one whit better than many among ourselves to-day, yet they learned to endure, and
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were ready to endure, hardness as good soldiers of Christ, as few indeed of us now are called upon to do this.
Thus in the instance of Rev. Elisha Macurdy, (whose name I find also spelled McCurdy), the work was wholly of a pioneer sort. He had to traverse the tangled wilderness from Pittsburg to the lake to bring together the scattered people for the hear- ing of the Gospel. He came as a zealous missionary before Home Missions had become an organized institution. Converted in his later youth, after farm work and the work of a teamster had solidified his strength and toughened his muscles, he gave all that he had of mental and physical force to the service of the Lord.
He longed to preach, but would abate no jot of preparation. Therefore, mature as he was, he went through a whole seven years' course of study at Canonsburg Academy, one of the foun- dations of Washington and Jefferson College. He was obliged to sell his farm in order to defray the expense of his preparatory course. His studies in theology were directed by Rev. Dr. Mc-
Millan. Fle was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ohio on the 26th of June, 1799, at the church of Upper Buffalo, Wash- ington County, Pa. At the same time and place the Presbytery licensed Joseph Stockton, also a student at Canonsburgh and a pupil of Dr. McMillan in theology. These two came together to upper and lower Greenfield, where they organized in ISol churches in these two neighboring places. Hence this present celebration. Of Mr. MeCurdy's ministry it is said, "from its commencement to its close it was a scene of the most self-denying and unremitting labor." He had an important agency in connec- tion with the great revival in Western Pennsylvania that com- menced about 1801-1802. He was a most earnest preacher. practical, pointed but kindly in spirit. He died on the 22d day of July, 1845, in the 83d year of his age, full of faith and hope and love.
Joseph Stockton became the first pastor of the church in Meadville and the author also of school books which became familiarly known. He died in Baltimore, Md., in 1834, aged 53.
These two men, though founders of this church under God's providence, were not long associated with it. They made their . mark and passed on to lay other foundations.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first pastor of the united churches of upper Greenfield, that is Middlebrook, and of lower Greenfield, that is North East, was the Rev. Robert Patterson. He was installed, as your own manual tells you, on the Ist of September, 1803. He was born in Stillwater, N. Y., educated in Canonsburg and a student of theology with Dr. McMillan, who was a notable pastor surely. He is described as "a stout, robust man, though not tall, with ruddy complexion and heavy beetling brows, a good scholar though not constitutionally a student." He settled for two-thirds of his time in these two churches at a salary of $200, the remaining one-third to be devoted to Evangelistic work. Released from his pastoral charge he went to Pittsburg where he died in 1854, in his eighty-second year. It is said of him "he is of a genial temper- ament, sober, sedate, yet not without a decided trace of Attic wit." This is illustrated in a story which he did not hesitate to recite about himself. Riding one Sunday morning to his church near Pittsburg a traveler overtook him and chatted with him along the way; reaching the church Mr. Patterson said to his fellow traveler, "suppose you stop and hear the preaching, it will rest both you and your horse." "Who is the preacher?" "One Pat- terson." "Did he preach in Erie County once?" "Yes." "Then I won't stop. lle is the dryest old stick I ever heard."
Rev. Samuel J. M. Eaton, whose reminiscences have sup- plied me with some of these facts, becomes a most trustworthy guide in what in tells about his father. Rev. Johnston Eaton, who became the minister of this flock after an interval of some years. The church was not without occasional preaching meanwhile. Rev. Jolm Mel'herrin, for instance, was employed in 1812 for six months. Ile was a thorough Latin and Greek scholar, and an earnest Evangelical preacher, and an able and devoted minis- ter of Christ." So writes Rev. Dr. Sprague, in his "Annals of the American Palpit." After very efficient service in various places he died February roth, 1822, in his sixty-fifth vear of his age. It was under his preaching that Rev. Elisha Mccurdy had been convert ! que sermon having for its text. "What Think Ye of Christ"?
Rev. Johnson Eaton came to Frie County to make it his permanent ali He came, as his son reports, in 1815. His first sermon was preached at Swan's tavern in what is now Man. chester. Fairview was his favorite place of labor, although he
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preached a portion of his time at Springfield and at Erie; also at North East, Waterford, Edinboro, and Mckean. A wide parish surely. For some years he was the only minister of any denom- ination in the county. "With his wife he moved from Fayette county," writes his son, "bearing all their household effects on horse back. There was not a bridge between Pittsburgh and Erie. A log cabin was built at Walnut Creek and the work be- gan. With his own hands the minister worked out a table from" a solid walnut trec, as no lumber was to be had, and when chil- dren began to gather around, little shoes were fabricated by his skill out of the remains of his own boot-tops that had served their time. The minister's wife braided hats for the family out of moose or leatherwood bark that grew in the woods. Wonderful cloth was manufactured in that log cabin; the wool carded and spun and woven, colored with butternut bark ; filled in a tub by the trampling of the bare feet of some of the neighboring young men, and ent and made up by the lady of the manse."
Mr. Eaton was a Pennsylvanian, graduated in the first class sent out by Jefferson College, a student of theology at Dr. Mc Millan's log cabin. He was below the ordinary stature, and always light and slender. He had a mild blue eye, with a tinge of sadness in its cast ; nose approaching the aquiline, with thin brown hair that did not become entirely gray in his old age. Nervously sensitive, averse to anything like display, he avoided show of any kind. He did not write his sermons but prepared them carefully from a brief skeleton that was usually kept in his pocket Bible. Will: all his mildness and quiet grace he was known through the whole country for his opposition to vice in every form. Dr. Eaton relates an incident in proof of this. His father met squarely one day in the road a man notorious for his profane and wicked ways, a stalwart, fighting man. Nevertheless Mr. Eaton, the littl .. minister, confronted him, charged him with his evil ways, while the convicted giant with hat in hand and per- spiration rolling from his face managed to say at the close with a how. "I thank you, and then went on his way.
Mr. Eaton served this church during 1815 and 1816, giving one-third of his time He died in Fairview, June 17th, 1847. after a ministry of forty-two years, in his seventy-second year. In my younger days there were some who still remembered him and honored him for his faithful work here and throughout the coun- ty.
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I find in your church manual that Rev. Phineas Camp con- ducted Evangelistic services here in 1818, when a considerable number of additions were made to the church. Also that the Rev. Judah Ely, of the Presbytery of Buffalo, was the first to serve the congregation in the new frame church, giving half his time in 1823. Of these two ministers I have not been able to learn particulars. We may trust that their record is secure and treasured in God's book of remembrance.
We come now to Rev. Giles Doolittle, whom I used to hear quite often mentioned when I was pastor in North East. He was installed as pastor by the Presbytery of Erie, April 15th, 1825. Dr. Eaton quotes concerning him what was said by one of his people, "He was a Puritan of the Puritans. I never heard him converse except on the subject of religion. Nothing ever seemed to disturb him except the wrong doing of his people. Then he would weep over them and be moved as no bereavement of his own could move him. He had remarkable control over his own feelings. He preached on Sabbath when one of his children lay dead at home, and when his wife died he preached her. funeral sermon the following Sabbath, analyzing her char- acter and calmly speaking of her many excellencies." His min- istry extended to 1832. It was a fruitful ministry attended by revivals in those years of revival-power 1830-1833. The tes- timony here of those who were under his ministry was uniformly in his praise.
He was followed November 15, 1833, by Rev. W. A. Adair. During his pastorate we meet with the name of Rev. S. G. Or- ton, a highly honored name in this and other communities. He was a man who united evangelistic labors with his own regu- lar pastorate. His labors here during Mr. Adair's ministry re- sulted in large accessions to this church. Mr. Orton, after leaving his pastorate in Ripley, N. Y., was for a considerable time. in his old age a resident of this place with his estimable wife, be- loved and honorel by all.
After Mr. Adair's ministry, with its large accessions, Rev. Nathaniel West became pastor for three years, 1838-1841. used to hear hus name mentioned with a certain mingling of ad- miration and perhaps I might say, deprecation. He was a preacher of notable power and Biblical learning. But he had
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what some thought an over-strenuous will. I cannot judge the case. Some said "when he is in the pulpit, so admirably he preaches, that he ought never to be out of it; when out of it, so wilful he is, that he ought never to go into it." . No one, I think, ever doubted his honesty of purpose; and, after his dismission, the people spoke kindly of him, feeling no longer the stress of what they deemed his arbitrary will.
He was followed by Rev. Miles Doolittle, a relative, as I suppose, of Rev. Giles Doolittle. He was a man of mild and amiable spirit, not so forceful as his name-sake, but one doubtless whose quiet manners served as an offset to the more stormy pas- torate of his predecessor.
In 1844 Rev. Samuel Montgomery ministered to the church,. a man who was kindly remembered by one who recited to me years ago his helpfulness to herself. If I am correct, he had been a classical teacher in, Westfield Academy and resumed teaching after his brief ministry. But I cannot venture to be positive about this. My impression is that he was a somewhat shy man, scholarly in his habits, better adapted to the school room than to pastoral visiting, but it is possible that I am mis- taking the man.
I find in your church mannal the name of Rev. Rodney Paine as the successor of Mr. Montgomery. Our honored elder, Mr. Dyer Loomis, could tell us something of him inas- much as under his ministry his own long and honored eldership began. But I have not the material at hand to indicate the traits of the minister thus mentioned.
The Rev. James Cochran, who followed Rev. Rodney Paine in 1850, is, as I infer, still among the living, and hence I pass next to my immediate predecessor, Rev. D. D. Gregory. I re- call him as a man of impressive personal appearance: He was a brother-in-law of Rev. Samuel G. Orton and was a man whose genial manners were like those of his sister, Mrs. Orton. It was thought a piece of good fortune to have secured a preacher of his dignity of character for your village church. He had been a pastor in Cincinnati and came thus among you with the prestige of a city pastorate. He maintained the kindly dignity, the urbanity, of one who had been thus situated. The parson- age lot was purchased and the house for the pastor's family was built under his suggestion. A renewal of his work in Cincinna-
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REV. DR. DAVID D. GREGORY,
1852 to 1858.
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ti led to his resignation of his charge here and I was asked to occupy the vacant pulpit.
Mr. Gregory lived several years after leaving this place, but I am not informed concerning the date of his death. I honor his memory as that of an excellent minister, sound in the faith, of a certain stately dignity of manner, representative in this of a type of ministers who have nearly passed away.
When I came in March 1858, (not 1859 as recorded in your church manual), it was with some natural shrinking concerning following this dignified senior; but when afterwards I met him personally I found him thoroughly genial and abounding in hearty good will.
I have thus gone through the list of your deceased pastors, a catalogue suggestive of many thoughts.
The successors of the apostles are by no means of any one communion. You have had them here in the spirit and power which God gave them.
As Elisha obtained the fallen mantle of Elijah, so your Eli- sha, who organized this church, partook of the spirit of the man who brought him to Jesus; and he in turn was followed by those earnest men whose portraits I have tried to sketch, men who prayed often, doubtless, in the years of revival through which this church passed for a double portion of God's spirit. You have had in these ministers whose record is now in honored re- membrance pastor- well fitted of God to do the shaping work for a pioneer church begun in the wilderness. You have now grown into a flourishing congregation, with all the comforts and ad- vantages of an intellectual, refined social life. Be not unmindful of the work of those who prepared the way. Be thankful to God for the men who were famous in lifting up axes upon the
thick trees. You will not despise the log church of a hundred years ago. Be thankful for the early fathers and mothers, who, out from their necessities, spared something for God's service. And remember gratefully those who as pioneer pastors loved to gather the scattered sheep of the wilderness and to lead them unto the chief shepherd and bishop of their souls.
BENEDICTION-Rev. T. B. Hudson, D. D.
ORGAN.
DECEASED RULING ELDERS OF THE NORTH EAST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
NAMES.
Birth
Church Memb'p.
Ordination.
Death
Joseph MeCord
Jan.
9, 1766
1801
1801
Feb. 7, 1813
John McCord.
Dec.
5, 1767
1801
1801
Feb. 13, 1839
Thomas Robinson
1773
1801
1801
July 12, 1830
William Dickson
Mar. 27, 1783
1814
Oct. 2, 1827
James Duncan ...
Oct.
2, 1827
William Andrew Robinson
July 20, 1795
Feb.
2, 1830
Mar. 10, 1871
Harmon Ensign ..
Feb. 14, 1793
Sept. 10, 1834
Mar. 14, 1876
James Smedley. M D.
1792
Jan. 18, 1834
Sept. 10, 1834
Jan. 26, 1868
William Crawford.
Dec. 25, 1796
Sept. 10, 1834
Aug. 19, 1850
Osee Selkregg ..
Sept. 20, 1795
Feb. 29, 1828
Dec. 31, 1843
June
4, 1883
Frederick Ensign
June 2, 1795
Nov. 30, 1833
Dec. 31, 1843
Benjamin Royce Tuttle.
Nov. 25, 1849
May 14, 1860
James Whitehill.
Mar. 30, 1797
1830
Nov. 25, 1849
April 25, 1870
Dyer Loomis
Oct. 10, 1810
Dec. 17, 1831
Nov. 25, 1849
Dec. 2. 1901
Benjamin T. Spooner.
Aug 28, 1802
April 5. 1851
March 2, .1856
June 13, 1881
Joseph McCord.
May 29, 1810
Oct. 1,1840
March 2, 1856
June 2, 1886
Horatio M. Gilman
Dec. 1,1848
March 2, 1856
Removed 1875, Died 1890
William E. Marvin
March 2. 1814
March 1, 1863
Nov. 8, 1868
Sept. 16. 1899
Martin L. Selkregg.
Nov. 1, 1834
Oct. 12, 1850
Nov. 8, 1868
Sept 4, 1891
Zenas Rogers
Nov. 20 1820
1840
Nov. 8 1868
Nov. 25, 1869
Aug. 9, 1861
CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
THE RULING ELDERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH EAST.
The record of the Centennial Celebration of the Presbyter- ian Church of North East would not be complete without some notice of the noble men who during the hundred years served as Ruling Ellers in the church. We have had reports of the good mien and true who were pastors of the church during the century of its life, but it should be remembered that for more than one-fourth of the century the church was without the presence and guidance of a pastor and was dependent for its life and growth upon the men who filled its eldership. They were not only the chief supporters of the men who filled the pulpit as pastors, but when the pulpit was vacant, they became in fact the pastors of the congregation. And admirably did they do the. work that God laid upon them. In the early and feebler years of the church's history, it was extremely difficult to maintain a per- manent pastorate. The men were not to be had and the church was poor. There were frequent intervals of from one to five years when the entire care of the church was laid upon the el- dership. There were many years when the church had the ser- vices of their pastor for but one-half or one-third of his time. It may be truthfully said that for fully one-third of the century the worship and pastoral care of the church were maintained by the Ruling Fliers. They secured occasional supplies for the pulpit, or conducted the worship of the Sabbath themselves. reading a substantial sermon from some approved divine. They led the prayer nicetings. They did what they could for the poor and sick an.l in the burial of the dead. They were leaders in the Sunday-school work of the church. They very largely had the care of the benevolent work of the church, the funds raised for pulpit supplies and for home and foreign missions. The discipline and oversight of the members of the church devolved upon them and in the early border life discipline was sometimes necessary. The church early took a high stand in favor of tem- perance, passing rules in favor of total abstinence. In the fight for a pure, moral, and law-abiding community, the church led by its Ruling Elders was prominent. " It must not be forgotten that for the first twenty -five years of its history this church was the only one in the community. It toiled at the foundations of so-
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cial and religious life and the Elders of this Church were the master workmen.
The first session of the church was composed of three men, John McCord and Joseph McCord, his brother, and Thomas Rob- inson, their brother-in-law. They were Scotch-Irishmen, from Cumberland County (now Perry County), Pa., and were born un- der the shadows of the Kittatinny Mountains, and were sons of a race of Presbyterian ancestry.
Joseph McCord, Sr., was born in Cumberland County, (now Perry), January 9, 1766. He came to Erie County with his wife and two children on horseback in 1798 and settled in North Fast. He was one of the original Ruling Elders of the Church at its organization and served the church until his death, Febru- ary 7, 1813. He passed away nearly ninety years ago and no traditions of his person and character have been preserved.
John McCord was born Dec. 5, 1767, and died February 13, 1839. Ilis term of eldership was a long and successful one of over thirty-eight years. The writer of this record, though but a lad at the date of his death, well recalls him. He was a tall, spare man, dignified in aspect, grave in his deportment, and most faithful in his church attendance. He inspired universal respect and confidence. His home was an open house for his many rel- atives and friends, and is remembered as a place of most cheer- inl hospitality, especially brightened by the genial welcome of his gracious wife, Polly Harkness MeCord. Mr. McCord was a most devoted member of the church, a wise counsellor, a gen- crous giver, and a man whose Christian integrity was beyond challenge. Que of his daughters, Ann, was the wife of a well known and beloved minister of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. George H. Hampson, and a second, Mary, was a wife of James Smedley, M. D, for many years a faithful elder in this church.
Thomas Robinson was born in Cumberland County, Pa., (now Perry), 1773, and died July 12, 1830, after serving the church in the eldership for twenty-nine years. From others who knew him well for many years, I learned the following facts of him. He came to North East, then known as Lower Greenfield, in 1797,
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