USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 31
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7 Mr. Irwin was born in Chester county, October 18th, 1746, educated at William and Mary college, Virginia, and at Princeton, where he had James Madison for classmate. He was twice married. His first wife was Priscilla Mckinstry, born 1760, his second, Mary Jamison, who died August 3d, 1822. Mr. Irwin was the first to en- courage John Fitch in his steamboat invention.
8 He was the son of Doctor James P. Wilson, who was born at Lewes, Delaware, in 1769, was a distinguished Presbyterian minister, and died near Hartsville in 1830. His remains lie near those of Mr. Tennent, in the old graveyard. The son, who died in 1849, was buried at the same place.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Wilson's with the New School. Thus the question of "schools" divided the congregation, as the " sides" had done a century before. These troubles led to a law-suit, but a compromise was effected by a division of property, when the Old School party built a new church at Hartsville. The congregation prospered under the minis- try of Mr. Wilson, the church building was enlarged and improved in 1842, and the members largely increased. At his resignation, in 1847, to accept the presidency of Delaware college, the Reverend Douglas K. Turner was called to the charge, who was ordained and - installed April 18th, 1848. His pastorate extended through a quar- ter of a century, to April 20th, 1873, and was a period of prosperity in the church. A lecture-room was built at Hartsville, in 1849, the graveyard enlarged in 1852, and a new wall around it, and further addition made in 1857, an organ purchased for the church in 1853, and a Gothic chapel built in the graveyard in 1871. During his pastorate three hundred members were added to the church. Mr. Turner was succeeded by the Reverend William E. Jones, the present pastor.
The Southampton Baptist church, the second of the group, had its origin in the meeting of Keithians held at the house of John Swift, of Southampton, from the division among Friends down to 1702. They now united with the Pennypack church, but continued their meeting, at regular intervals, at John Swift's, John Chamber- lin's, and John Morris's, to about 1732, meanwhile John Watts,9 John Hart, Samuel Jones, George Eaton and Jenkins Jones preach- ing for them. In 1732 John Morris gave a lot to build a meeting- house on, and one hundred and twelve acres to support the minister. The house was erected, and services held one Sunday in the month by Joseph Eaton, of Montgomery, and by Jenkins Jones on a week day. The congregation retained its connection with Pennypack until 1745, when it was constituted a separate church. The request was signed by fifty members, and among them we find the names of Watts, Dungan, Hart, Potts, Gilbert, Yerkes, etc., the leading men of that section. Reverend Joshua Potts was the first pastor called, who remained to his death, in 1761, and the first persons baptised were Thomas Dungan, of Warwick, and Hannah Watts, of South- ampton. For many years the baptisms took place in the dam of Stephen Watts, on the farm now owned by John Davis. At that
9 He preached at Pennypack from December, 1690, to August 27th, 1702, when he died at the age of forty-one years.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
day marriages had to be published three times, and those who did not take the advice of the church about such matters were esteemed "disorderly," a matter of discipline borrowed from the Friends. 10 In 1748 Oliver Hart and Isaac Eaton, both members, were licensed to preach, and they became distinguished ministers. The former was called to Charleston, South Carolina, and the latter to Hope- well, New Jersey. The parsonage house and barn were built in 1762, and a wall around the graveyard the same year.
In 1763 Doctor Samuel Jones became pastor of Penrypack and Southampton, but resigned charge of the latter in 1770. His joint salary was £80. In 1768 Joseph Richardson, a member, was sus- pended, and afterward excommunicated, for cheating his pastor in the purchase of a negro. June 1st, 1770, the Reverend Erasmus Kelly was called to the pastorate in place of Mr. Jones, receiving the rent of the parsonage farm and £40 in money. He left in Au- gust, 1771.11 In February, 1772, William Vanhorne was called to succeed Mr. Kelly, and ordained the 29th of May following. He remained in charge of the church and congregation until the fall of 1785, or the winter of 1786. He joined the Continental army at Valley Forge, January 1st, 1778, and served as chaplain of Gen- eral Glover's brigade until the summer of 1780, when he returned to Southampton. Meanwhile the church depended on supplies. While the enemy held Philadelphia, meetings for worship and busi- ness were interrupted on account of their frequent incursions into the surrounding country. A new meeting-house, forty by thirty- two feet, was erected in 1773, on a lot bought of Thomas Folwell, in 1770, and the old meeting-house was fitted up for a tenant.12 Mr. Vanhorne left "on account of the increasing expenses of his family, the insufficiency of his salary, and the little prospect there was of its being better.13
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10 It is recorded at this period that John Eaton, a member, was suspended for "some unbecoming carriage" at the election at Newtown.
11 Erasmus Kelly was born in this county in 1748, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. and began to preach in 1769. He was called to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1771, and remained until the war broke out, then went to Warren, in that state, where the British burnt the parsonage and his goods. He came to Pennsyl- vania until the war was over, when he returned to Newport, where he died in 1784.
12 Probably the building used many years for a school-house, that stood near the sexton's house, but torn down long ago. Among those baptised in 1773 was Daphne, a slave woman of Arthur Watts, well-remembered by the author.
13 William Vanhorne, the son of the Reverend Peter Peterson Vanhorne, was born at Pennypack in 1746, was educated at the academy of Doctor Samuel Jones, and re-
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
After Mr. Vanhorne left Southampton the pulpit was supplied by David Jones, from the Great Valley, Chester county, who came in April, 1786, and left in 1792, and Thomas Memmenger, from Jan- uary 1st, 1794, until probably 1801, when the Reverend Thomas B. Montanye, of New York, was called to the charge.44 During the twenty-eight years of Mr. Montanye's pastorate, Southampton en- joyed a very prosperous period, the members were numerous, the congregation large, and the standing of the church second to none of the denomination. The church was re-built and enlarged in 1814. About that time a flourishing Sunday school was established in the church, of which Christopher Search was president, and William Purdy and John Davis directors. In 1822 Juliann B. Anderson received a Bible from the school for having committed the entire New Testament to memory. The pastors, in succession, since the death of Mr. Montanye have been, Messrs. James B. Bowen, Alfred Earl, William Sharp, William Harding, and the present incumbent, William J. Purrington. The church building has been improved within a few years, and a handsome residence built for the pastor, near by, out of proceeds arising from the sale of the parsonage farm. It will seat about twelve hundred. The church was incorporated in 1794. For many years a good classical school was kept in the old stone school-house near the church, which at one time was taught by the Reverend Isaac Eaton, and among the pupils was the late . Joseph Gales, of Washington city.
Deep Run Presbyterian, the third church in our group, is one of the very oldest in central Bucks county. Its organization followed the settlement of the Scotch-Irish in Bedminster and adjoining townships. No doubt meetings were first held at private houses, and when William Tennent was called to Neshaminy in 1726, Deep
ceived the degree of A. M. from the college of Rhode Island. He was ordained at Southampton May 29th, 1772. He was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Pennsylvania. He preached at White Plains, New York, until 1807, and died at Pittsburg, October 13th, that year, on his way to Lebanon, Ohio, where he intended to settle. His father was a native of Middletown, in this county.
14 The family deseends from Thomas de la Montagnie, who arrived from France in 1661, and settled in New York. He was a Baptist minister, and probably a Huguenot. Thomas B. was the son of Reverend Benjamin Montanye, and born in New York, January 29th, 1769. He entered the ministry at the age of eighteen, and was a pas- tor several years at Warwiek, New York, and died at Southampton, September 27th, 1829. He was a man of the most sterling character, and has left a number of deseen- dants, among whom is Harman Yerkes, of the Bucks county bar, in the maternal line, through his youngest daughter.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Run was his "Upper congregation." A log meeting-house was erected in 1732, on a lot given by William Allen, and the same year the church joined the Philadelphia Presbytery. It was not called Deep Run until 1738, and was incorporated in 1792. In 1767 Mr. Allen gave the church one hundred acres for a parsonage.
The first settled minister was the Reverend Francis McHenry, 15 who was called in 1738 or 1739. He preached every third Sunday for Mr. Tennent, and Neshaminy asked for one-half his time, which was not conceded. Mr. McHenry continued pastor at Deep Run until his death, in 1757, working hard for the church, but leading an uneventful life. He was followed by the Reverend James Latta, also of Scotch-Irish parentage, in 1761.15 He remained in charge nine years. His salary was fixed at £65, a little over $200 in Pennsylvania currency. The parsonage house was erected the same year he took charge, and the meeting-house repaired in 1766. During his pastorate the deed for the parsonage farm was executed to him and his successors in the ministry, to be held by the congre- gation "so long as not without a regular minister for more than five years at any one time." This land was part of a grant by Wil- liam Penn to Francis Plumstead, and thence to others, in 1704. Mr. Latta resigned in 1770. In the summer of 1773 the Reverend Hugh Magill was called to the pastorate of the church, but three years afterward the trustees resolved unanimously that " his useful ness is lost," and he was ordered " to clear the plantation " by April 15th, 1776, but we are left to conjecture as to the cause of trouble. In 1775 or 1776 the " Deep Run lottery " was organized, probably to raise money to pay for building the parsonage or repairing the church. The members and congregation purchased five thousand two hundred tickets, valued at £2,850.
15 Mr. McHenry came of an old Irish family, which is first heard of on the small island of Rathlin to the north of Ireland, whence they were driven to the glens of Antrim, by the MacDonalds, of Scotland. There they lived secluded from the world, retain- ing their nationality and religion, and speaking the Irish language. He was born in 1710, educated for the ministry, and with two brothers immigrated to America, in 1735, settling at Craig's settlement, north of the Lehigh. He was licensed to preach November 10th, 1738, and ordained at Neshaminy July 12th, 1739. He frequently preached at Newtown and Red Hill. His wife, born May 21st, 1719, died October 19th, 1793.
16 Mr. Latta was born in 1732, came to America when a boy, and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, was ordained in 1759, resigned at Deep Run in 1770 and died in Lancaster county, in 1801.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Mr. Magill was succeeded by the Reverend James Grier, 17 of Plum- stead, in 1776, who continued their pastor until his death in 1791, although he had many advantageous offers elsewhere. Though one of the gravest of men, he died of laughter, at seeing his wife and hired man attempt to yoke an unruly hog, which ruptured a blood- vessel in the throat. His funeral sermon was preached by Reverend Nathaniel Irwin, of Neshaminy, who exclaimed in tones of lamen- tation, "O, Deep Run, thy glory is departed!" Although Mr. Grier's salary was meagre cnough, he received part of it in wheat, rye, Indian corn, and oats. The church was now without a settled pas- tor until 1798, when the Reverend Uriah DuBois 18 was called. During his pastorate the Presbyterian church at Doylestown' was organized, and he remained in charge until his death in 1821. This wider field of influence changed the destiny of Deep Run, and trans- ferred the " seat of empire " to the new congregation.19 Service is now held at Deep Run once in three months, and at other times both congregations worship at Doylestown. The church at Deep Run was the parent of a religious colony that emigrated from Bedminster to North Carolina an hundred years ago, whose descendants compose the flourishing congregation of Concord Presbyterians in Rowan county.
The Newtown Presbyterian church had its origin with the Scotch- Irish and English Presbyterians who settled in that section in the first quarter of the last century. A log meeting-house was erected in 1734, at the end of the Swamp road, a mile west of Newtown, and the Reverend Hugh Carlisle was called to be the pastor there and at Plumstead. He ceclined because they were so far apart, nevertheless he preached for these churches until 1738.20 The Rev-
17 He was the son of Nathan and Agnes Grier. immigrants from Ireland, who set- tled in Plumstead. He was born in 1750, converted by Whitefield, graduated at Princeton in 1772, studied divinity with Doctor Witherspoon, and was licensed to preach in 1775. His brother Nathan, and his son John Ferguson Grier, both became able and prominent Presbyterian ministers.
18 He was born in Salem county, New Jersey, in 1768, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1790, and licensed to preach in 1796. He married Martha Pat- terson in 1798, and they took up their residence at the village of Dublin, in Bedmin- ster township.
19 In our account of the Doylestown church will be found a further notice of Mr. DuBois and his labors.
20 Mr. Carlisle was probably from England or Ireland, was admitted into the New Castle Presbytery in 1735, and joined the Presbytery of Philadelphia in June, 1746. He removed into the bounds of the Lewes Presbytery in 1838.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
erened James Campbell succeeded him, who supplied Newtown the summer of 1739, but declined the call in September. He probably was not the settled pastor, but continued to preach at Newtown, Tinicum and Durham, going to the Forks occasionally. He de- clined the call at Newtown because he did not think he had been "born again," but commenced to preach again at the request of Messrs. Whitefield and Tennent, and success attended his labors He was settled at Tohickon in 1742, but owing to a controversy as to where the new meeting-house should be located, he left in 1749, and went South in 1758.21 In the fall of 1745 Newtown and Ben- salem both asked for the services of Reverend Daniel Lawrence, but he was sent the following spring to supply the Forks. The third pastor at Newtown was the Reverend Henry Martin, a graduate of Princeton, who was called in May, 1752, and remained to his death, in 1764.
After the death of Mr. Martin the church depended on casual sup- plies for five years, until 1769, when the Reverend James Boyd became the settled minister. The present building was crected the same year, on a lot bought before 1757, the walls remaining intact to the present day. The floor was laid with brick, a two-story pulpit garnished the north side, and high-backed pews received the wor- shipers. But little has come down to us of the long pastorate, nearly half a century, of Mr. Boyd, but that little is to his spiritual and personal credit. He was an able and earnest minister, the church flourished under his care, and during the trying times of the Revolution he was a patriot and constant to his country's cause. He died at his post in 1814. During Mr. Martin's pastorate, about 1761, the assembly authorized a lottery to raise £400 to repair the church, and to build or repair the minister's residence. 22 Difficulty arising about the collection of the money from some of the managers, the congregation petitioned the legislature to appoint commissioners to settle their accounts. The act was approved March 21st, 1772, and Henry Wynkoop, John Harris and Francis Murray 23 were selected.
21 Mr. Campbell was born in Scotland, and came to America in 1739, and was or- dained in 1742.
22 The following is a copy of a lottery ticket used on that occasion : "Newtown Presbyterian Church Lottery, 1761. No. 104. This Ticket entitles the Bearer to such Prize as may be drawn against its Number, if demanded within Six Months after the Drawing is finished, subject to such Deduction as is mentioned in the Scheme. (Signed) JNO. DENORMANDIE."
23 Probably.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The old church building has a bit of Revolutionary history that adds to its interest. Some of the Hessians from the field of Trenton passed their first night of captivity within its walls. When digging for a foundation for the middle post that supports the south gallery, bones and buttons were turned up, said to have belonged to an English officer who was buried in the aisle. On the wall, now covered by the frescoing, was written the following verse in red chalk, which tradition credits to a Hessian captive, which is ex- tremely doubtful, as the writing was in English :
" In times of war, and not before, God and the soldier men adore ; When the war is o'er and all things righted, The Lord's forgot and the soldier slighted."
The church had another period of supplies, after the death of Mr. Boyd, for four years, James Joyce and Mr. Doak officiating the greater part of the. time. In 1818 the Reverend Alexander Boyd was called, who remained pastor for twenty years, the two Boyds filling the same pulpit nearly three-quarters of a century.2+ Under him the church enjoyed a season of prosperity, and great revivals took place in 1822 and 1823. The Sabbath-school was organized in 1817, the teachers of which were fined for non-attendance. Mr. Boyd was succeeded by the Reverend Robert D. Morris,25 of Ken- tucky, a graduate of the Princeton seminary, who preached his first sermon at Newtown, April 22d, 1838. This was a fortunate selec- tion, and during- his pastorate of nineteen years he made his mark on the church and community. The building was re-modeled in 1842, the communicants increased, and some of the pastor's energy instilled into the congregation. Mr. Morris resigned in 1857, to take charge of the female seminary at Oxford, Ohio, where he still
2+ Alexander Boyd died at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, in June, 1845, in his sixty- fifth year.
25 Mr. Morris is the son of Colonel Joseph Morris, who removed from New Jersey to Mason county, Kentucky, in 1794, where he was born August 22d, 1814. The Morrises, Mawr-rwyce, meaning war-like, powerful, trace their descent from Welsh ancestors in 933. After the death of Cromwell his ancestor fled to Barbadoes to escape the wrath of Charles II., whence the family came to this country. On the mother's side he descends from the Deshas, who fled from France in 1685, and settled at New Rochelle, New York, whence they came to Pennsylvania, and made their home near the Water Gap, when that country was part of Bucks county. They re- moved to Kentucky in 1784, and shared the perils of the "bloody ground." Mr. Morris is a graduate of Angusta college, Kentucky, and was licensed to preach in
. 1838.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
labors in the cause of education. In October, 1869, an interesting centennial was held in the old church, and was the occasion of a pleasant re-union for many who had been long separated.
From the Newtown church, and the academy, a kind of adjunct to it, there have gone forth some twenty-five or more ministers of the gospel, some of whom became prominent. In the church is an ancient straight-back chair, said to have belonged to William Penn, probably at Pennsbury. Since the resignation of Mr. Morris, the pastors of the church have been the Reverends George Burrows, Henry F. Lee, S. J. Milliken, and George C. Bush, now in charge. In 1874 there were two hundred and twenty-three communicants. In the early days the staunchest supporters of the church came from Upper Makefield, among whom were the Keiths, the Slacks and the Stewarts.
The New Britain Baptist church is the sixth in our group. For several years the Welsh Baptists of that township, and the neigh- boring settlers of the same faith attended the Montgomery church, of which many of them were members. They became tired of going so far to church at all seasons, and asked that another meeting-house be built nearer to them. This was so violently opposed by the leading men who lived near the Montgomery church, that the peti- tioners took great offense at it. This begat a strife that required years to reconcile, and it was not long before the congregation was divided into two parts with a separate communion. About the same time a doctrinal difference, touching the " Sonship of Christ," sprung up between them which made the breach wider. This state of things continuing without hope of reconciliation, the New Britain party resolved to build a meeting-house for themselves. This they carried into effect in 1744, and on a lot of two acres, partly the gift of Lawrence Growden, they erected a stone church, thirty by forty feet, a school-house and stabling.26 The congregation consisted of about seventy families, and the Reverend Joseph Eaton 27 preached for them at £40 a year, assisted by Reverend William Davis,28 who
26 Where the present church is located.
27 Mr. Eaton was born at Radnor, Wales, August 25th, 1679, came to America at the age of seven years, was ordained October 24th, 1727, and died April 1st, 1749. He took sides with the New Britain party from the first. The distinguished Isaac Eaton, of Hopewell, New Jersey, was his son.
28 Mr. Davis was born in Glamorshire, Wales, in 1695, came to America in 1722 but went back and returned here in 1737, settled in Chester county, but removed to New Britain, where he officiated until his death in 1768. His two children, William . and Mary, married into the families of Evans and Caldwell.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
succeeded him at his death. Down to 1823, this church was called the " Society meeting-house," because it was built on land that had been owned by the " Free Society of Traders."
The New Britain congregation made repeated overtures of recon- ciliation with the parent church at Montgomery, but without success. In 1746 they asked a hearing before the Philadelphia association, but that body, committed to the Montgomery interest, refused them, because their letter "came into the association disorderly." The request was renewed in 1747, but the association positively refused to hear the allegations of the "Society party." The following year the association recommends that when their ministers preach among the "Society party" they exhort them to be reconciled, otherwise they will be encouraging the faction. Grown weary of their at- tempts to get dismission from the mother church, and hopeless of recognition by the association, they resolved to complete their or- ganization as a religious body. They adopted a general confession of faith, and the 28th of October, 1754, the constitution of the new church was signed by twenty-two members.29 When the Montgom- ery church saw the division was inevitable, they gave the New Britain party a regular dismissal, and the following year they were admitted into the association. During these difficulties Benjamin Griffiths led the Montgomery party, and Reverend Joseph Eaton the seceders, 30 as they were called.
On the death of Mr. Eaton Mr. Davis was made pastor, and the Reverend Joseph Thomas (ordained in 1766), was called as assistant. During their joint pastorate there was a considerable increase of members, among whom was Simon Butler, from Montgomery church, in 1758. In 1764 there were fifty-three members. The Reverend Joshua Jones 31 succeeded Mr. Davis at his death, in 1761, and re- signed in 1795. The old meeting-house was torn down in 1815.
29 The following were the names: Isaae Evans, David Stephen, Evan Stephen, John Williams, Walter Shewel, Joshua Jones, William George, Clement Doyle, Wil- liam Dungan, John James, David Morgan, Thomas James, David Stephen, jr., Thomas Humphrey, Mary James, Mary Shewel, Mary James (Aaron's wife), Mar- garet Phillips, Elizabeth Stephen, Jane James, Catharine Evans and Margaret Doyle.
30 During these troubles a proposition was made to build a new meeting-house on "Leahy hill," a location now unknown. There was a little Baptist flock fourteen miles from New Britain, among the Roekhills, that had some connection with that church.
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