USA > Pennsylvania > Two centuries of the Church of the Brethren in western Pennsylvania, 1751-1950 > Part 11
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The Brethren have been interested in education from the start, even though there was what some prefer to call "the eclipse" in their history. They were interested all along the line, from the time that Alexander Mack presumably attended Halle University, the first liberal college in the world, or as- sociated with its leaders and culture.
Mack's contacts with and his interest in the publication of the Berleberg Bible and his work, A Plain View of the Rites and Ordinances of the House of God, were deeply grounded in educational philosophies and practice. So was his interest in the education of his children, as evidenced in the work and writ- ings of his son, Alexander, Jr. Witness the work of Christopher Sower in his publications, and in sending his son, Christopher, Jr., to the great Christopher Dock, a Mennonite teacher who was good enough to write the first American-published work on pedagogy. Christopher Sower, Jr., induced Dock to allow him to publish that work (1770). He had other wide interests in education, generally. His "first publication 'Christian Edu- cation' which edition is now exceedingly rare,"2 was published in 1754.
The fact that Germantown Academy [with which he was con- nected so long] was a union school proves also that his devotion to education was based upon no sectarian view of its value, but upon
2 M. G. Brumbaugh, A History of the German Baptist Brethren. Page 393.
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that broad charity for the poor and the needy that made his life so rich in deeds of love. As editor of a religious and of a secular paper, the publisher of two editions of the Holy Bible, of a family almanac, and scores of religious and secular volumes, he was indeed the sower of good seed in Colonial America, and the champion of the cause of the poor Germans.3
Who could omit such a rich statement on such an out- standing leader of education by Doctor M. G. Brumbaugh?
It is interesting to note the open-minded, generous spirit of growth which characterized the early Brethren. And it may be that we have returned to this philosophy again, but it was not true during the period when our educational activities lagged and formalism and dogmatism had set in to the point that many members were "disowned," often for trivial reasons, some involving education. Further interests of the early Breth- ren in various phases of education were shown both in secular and religious fields. More deserves to be said about this type of education, but we pass to still another. This was the sub- scription school before the days of the free public schools as sponsored by the state law of 1834. The Brethren conducted subscription schools as other churches did before that day. Most noted of them, perhaps, was the so-called "select school." According to S. Z. Sharp, the select school was not an uncommon thing among Brethren communities.
One would naturally wonder, with all this educational back- ground, what became of all this heritage and activity in the early 1800's. The answer is not far to seek. Christopher Sower, Sr., was gone, but his son, Elder Christopher Sower, Jr., took up the work, of which much more could be said. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Pennsylvania citizens were required to take an oath of allegiance to the state as against the King of England. Sower was not opposed to or an enemy of the state, but in the light of the New Testament he could not take an oath of support or allegiance. He was persecuted and suffered the loss of all his property, including even his glasses at first. The printing establishment was lost and the champion of educational interests among the German colonists and their news informant was gone.
In fear, these distraught people seemed like sheep scattered without a shepherd. They withdrew into seclusion. It took decades to revive educational interests among isolated rural churches. Here is where Western Pennsylvania really comes
3 Ibid. Page 412.
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on the scene, though all its roots extended into this cultural pattern. This extended study of early foundations and develop- ments in education or the lack of it seems important to this study.
Among causes which prevented the Church of the Brethren from establishing high schools and colleges during this period may be named: (1) the blighting influence of the war, (2) emigration, (3) adhering to the use of the German language, and (4) the lack of an educated ministry.4 Except for that of the mother church at Germantown and a few others, the mem- bership was composed largely of farmers who moved away in large numbers in pursuit of the best lands, or perhaps for in- dustrial pursuits in rare instances. It is impossible to trace this emigration movement here, except to say that it brought the church west of the Alleghenies into Somerset County and into Southwestern Pennsylvania.
At the time the Brethren were establishing agricultural colonies and organizing rural churches, the grade level of edu- cation filled all their needs. They were not interested in higher education. The Brethren in this period of rural expansion chose the best from among them to be their leaders. They were gen- erally students of the Bible, with a remarkable heritage of Bible reading and study; but when called to the ministry, they really took their duties seriously and devoted hours to reading, study, and meditation. They committed whole chapters or even books of the Bible to memory. They lived it. Furthermore, they were students of nature, in which they, as well as the Master Teacher, found the richest illustrations in the world.
In spite of the superficial reactions at times against educa- tion there was always a deep undercurrent for it. The plane on which it was to be conducted was of the highest order. The practical development of education on various levels be- fore 1860 was greatly aided by the fact that many of the Brethren were teachers in that early period or were interested in starting schools. You may be assured that the Brethren were early, in known instances, for free school education.
Among the most promising of the minister teachers of this earlier period was Jacob S. Miller, of Bedford county, who did more to revolutionize the methods of common-school teaching in his part of the state than any other person, and became exceedingly popular. He began teaching in 1844, in his seventeenth year. He erected a building for a select school, in which he gave both secular and re-
4 S. Z. Sharp, The Educational History of the Church of the Brethren. Page 39.
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ligious instruction, but before the close of the second term, death snatched him away.5
Brother Miller had had extraordinary success elsewhere as a teacher before he established his school at Buffalo Mills. Students came from the surrounding and the more remote areas and boarded with the family. The work was pronounced very popular and a success from the start, but "incessant labor and over work" brought him to an untimely death in 1853. Thus came to a sudden and unfortunate close the first local try at what pointed toward a revival of higher learning, especially notable because it was within reach of the Brethren of the local area.
Brother Miller had frequent contacts with the Brethren of the Western District, especially at Berlin. He died on May 11, 1853, and funeral services were conducted by our own Elder Jacob Hauger of Somerset County. He will always appear as an interesting, pioneering leader in our educational history.
Another figure who wielded strong influence toward higher education was James Quinter, who, at the close of a fourteen- year pastorate in the Western District, became associated with Henry Kurtz in publishing the Gospel Visitor, and in 1856, by advocating such a school, created a great deal of agitation before Annual Conference. The minutes of that year's Confer- ence say:
We desire to know whether the Lord has commanded to have a school besides our common schools, such as the one contemplated in the Gospel Visitor.
Answer by General Conference: We think we have no right to interfere with an individual enterprise so long as there is no de- parture from gospel principles.
Many young members were lost to the church because they could not satisfy their goals and aspirations for education. More and more were making such demands. The time was ripe for a beginning. The leaders were inspiring, and this Confer- ence decision opened the way. The dawn of a new day in edu- cation was breaking in the early 1860's. Many individuals with more than passing interest had helped to pave the way. There should be space to mention many of them.
Establishing a Brethren school for church leaders and for the education of her youth had been a pet project of Elder Quinter since 1856. He helped to establish an academy at New Vienna, Ohio. This school "opened October 14, 1861 and con-
5 Sharp, op. cit. Page 43.
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tinued for three years with a reasonable degree of success," says Elder Sharp. The enterprise ended in 1864 with the dis- turbed conditions of the Civil War.
Brother Quinter was assisted by another Western Penn- sylvania brother, Oliver W. Miller, A. M., who was the prin- cipal of the school. Miller and Lewis Kimmel were our first two college graduates (1859) with Bachelor of Arts degrees. Brother Miller was from the Georges Creek congregation, where Quinter had been pastor.
We mention briefly Salem College of Bourbon, Indiana, for the reason that Oliver W. Miller, from our district and a leader in education, was elected president of the college, and also because Elder Jacob Berkey, son of John and Mary Berke- bile Berkey of the Shade Creek congregation, an able preacher in English and German, with a fairly good education for his time and much interested in education, was chosen as one of a committee of three to purchase the building and plant of a defunct college of another denomination. This was the first serious attempt, apparently, of a church district (Northern Indiana) to establish an institution of higher learning. It was planned as a first-rate college and promised to fulfill the dreams and hopes of a forward-looking people.6 The school opened on December 14, 1870, but, with ideals which were perhaps too high, not enough trained men in the church to operate it prop- erly, and especially opposition without and within, the school closed at the end of its three-year contract, with the loss even of the homes of some of the trustees and supporters. Thus a noble effort, worthy of our attention, failed.
Our next efforts in the cause of education were nearer home. We refer to the proposed Berlin College, Somerset County. Educational sentiment had grown to the point of attempting to establish a Brethren college here. This was within the Western District. H. R. Holsinger was a leading figure.
The plan was to solicit $100,000.00 for this work, but none was to be payable until all had been subscribed. The churches of Somerset County were canvassed. In less than ten days the sum of nearly $20,000.00 was subscribed. "The proposition to raise one hundred thousand dollars was not given up without a determined effort to secure it. Not only were Middle and
6 Sharp, op. cit. Pages 61-68.
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Western Pennsylvania canvassed, but a goodly amount was subscribed in Ohio."7 This effort was made in 1872.
There were two other efforts in our district, though short lived, which deserve our attention. They were the Plum Creek Normal and the Purchase Line Academy.
Lewis Kimmel had graduated from Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania (A. B., 1859 and A. M., 1863). (See his biography.) In 1874 he began a school in the north half of the Plum Creek church building under the strict regulations or instructions of the church council there.8 He had been a student at Elder's Ridge Academy and had previously taught a select school at Rural Valley, according to his daughter, Mrs. Claypool. He knew the value of education, and the Brethren had confidence in him. His concern for his own family was a motivating influence.
Brother Howard Miller had by this time earned a reputa- tion as an able teacher and had earned a liberal education at Bucknell College. He was called in as an assistant by Brother Kimmel. Brother Kimmel's three children were the only stu- dents present on the opening day, but by the beginning of the next year the prominence of these two teachers attracted about one hundred students. Many who were teachers or were pre- paring to teach attended. Among leaders who received training here were Howard H. Keim, a prominent elder and lecturer in the University of Indiana, Christian Kimmel, the younger brother of Lewis Kimmel, a prominent worker and father of a large family of Brethren students and church workers, and Elder R. T. Pollard, M. D., of Garrett, Somerset County.
It is traditionally reported that an initial endowment9 was started and that this ;with some of the student body was transferred to Juniata College when it opened in 1876, or soon thereafter. Improved transportation and boarding fa- cilities, along with the increased teaching force, later were im- portant factors in the shift to the Huntingdon school. The Plum Creek Normal closed after four years of activity. Some of Brother Kimmel's library is still intact. He was really a pioneer in education, both in attainment and leadership. His college diploma is reproduced on page 130. Efforts failed to de- termine how many in the district followed in the attainment of a college degree, but the church should feel proud to honor him.
7 Sharp, op. cit. Pages 69 and 70.
8 See Plum Creek church minutes, dating back to 1853.
9 The amount of the endowment was actually $300.00.
99900
Juniata College Students From Western Pennsylvania, 1905
Seated, right to left: 1, Clara Shaffer; 2, Grant Blough; 3, Nellie Shaffer; 4, Robert Miller; 5, Myrtle Walker; 6, Harry B. Speicher; 7, Pearl Lehman; 8, William L. Judy
Second row, left to right: 9, Margaret Griffith; 10, Suie Gnagy; 11, M. J. Weaver; 12, Ella Hoffman; 13, Alvin G. Faust; 14, Eva Belle Park; 15, Cora Peck
Back row, right to left: Milton Weaver; 17, Charles Hasson; 18, Galen K. Walker; 19, A. J. Park; 20, John Fike; 21, H. J. Beabes; 22, Orville Stahl
The Purchase Line Academy was also a temporary school on that level. It was started in 1873 by J. L. Myers, the first teacher, chairman of the board of trustees, and a Bucknell stu- dent. It continued to a much later date than did Plum Creek. Here a number of our church leaders, especially of the Purchase Line, Manor, and Penn Run area, attained an academic training. Among its thousand students were: Elizabeth Swartz, Sadie Mumau, Mrs. Ed Donahey, Samuel L., Lydia, George H., Benja- min, John W., and Ford Fyock, M. G. Minser, Samuel Minser, Samuel Beer, Elizabeth Beer Hollopeter, and especially the church leader, Mark Minser. This academy closed in 1918.
Who can tell the importance of these temporary schools on an academy level in laying the groundwork and stimulating a desire for higher education in the district?10
10 The New Centerville Normal Academy, near Rockwood, and the Somerset Normal School had many Brethren students, though managed by others .- Editor.
Founders and Early Leaders of Juniata College
From top, down, left to right: Dr. A. B. Brumbaugh, J. B. Brum- baugh, Dr. Saylor, William Beery, J. H. Brumbaugh, J. M. Zuck, David Emmert, J. W. Swigart, M. G. Brumbaugh, James Quinter, H. B. Brum- baugh
Not only Juniata College but also Ashland College profited by the closing of the Plum Creek Normal. The latter is out of the district, and the story of Juniata is so important and so well told by David Emmert in Reminiscences of Juniata Col- lege, and by Dr. C. C. Ellis in Juniata College: The History of Seventy Years, and by others that it cannot be attempted here.
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Many of the strongest men and women of the district have received their professional and religious training at this school, which, as colleges go, ranks at the top. Witness the large num- ber of successful church leaders who received training at Juniata College. (A sample year, 1905, of Western District students is shown on page 132.) Her standards are above reproach and her leaders have ever been an inspiration to the churches of the district. What emotions well up within you as you look into the likenesses of these college leaders! (See cut of founders and early leaders.) The writer cannot evaluate the good for- tune to have sat under the tutelage of nearly all of these men of God. Their spirit lives on and on.
ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE ON EDUCATION
An effort was made in 1950 to obtain a record of the edu. cational accomplishments and activities of members of the district in various fields of church endeavor. This turned out to be a sampling rather than a summary. While the response was rather disappointing, yet the results seemed important in certain phases. We wish that pastors had supplied the in- formation on the number of high school and college graduates or students in their constituency. Perhaps they do not know. But would it not help toward more efficient pastoral work if one knew? Should not the ministerial and pastoral committees know more of the attainments of both pastors and the member- ship of given churches in order to co-ordinate the work? Per- haps this is going too far or it may be open to doubt.
To comment briefly, in the survey there were seventeen congregations with a total of five thousand, five hundred six- teen members, and six hundred thirteen or about twelve per cent (nearly one half of them males) responding. There were three and one-half per cent who were college graduates with a few more in the science field than in liberal arts. An addi- tional four and seven-tenths per cent attended college for one or two years.
Of the responding group, a few studied music. About as many attended seminary as had two years of college training. An equal number were teachers, it is assumed in public schools. It should be noted that at the turn of the century an unusually large percentage of Brethren were active as public school teachers or as school directors. This had an inestimable value
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in tying the church with the community and in keeping them in the position of leadership. It also raised materially the stand- ards of our own Sunday schools. A survey should be made to determine actually the number and influence of Brethren in the teaching profession or in administration.
More than fifteen per cent of the respondents were students in some field or other. Six per cent were farmers; twenty per cent were employed by others and forty per cent were house- wives. More than twenty per cent were teaching in the church school and an equal number had some official capacity in the church.11 It is interesting to note that the main magazine read was the Gospel Messenger. The Reader's Digest was next in order, with many others being named. More than half of the group attended Camp Harmony at some time, slightly fewer attended District Meeting, and one fourth had attended An- nual Meeting.
When most of the church members go to high school and a number approaching ten per cent come in contact with college, then higher education has become a very important part of our church life. Rural churches are having only slightly less than the average percentage of high school graduates. Who can estimate the effect of this influence on the pattern of our church program?
The Educational Blue Book12 lists about fifty persons con- nected with the district who had college degrees before 1923. All except thirteen of these degrees had been earned in the final decade studied. Others had lesser degrees. There were no Doctor of Philosophy degrees but there were about ten Masters degrees, of which the first two, held by Lewis Kimmel and Oliver W. Miller, were apparently honorary. There were about as many Bachelor of Divinity degrees (two or three years above college level) ; and M. J. Weaver and M. Clyde Horst held Bachelor of Theology degrees. It is interesting to note the increase in this field in the last decade, and especially the tendency of churches to choose pastors who have seminary training. What a change!
It is also interesting to note the mutual exchange of the district pastors with other state districts. This exchange seems to be on the increase. It appears to be mutually beneficial, a
11 This questionnaire was circulated in most cases at some church function.
12 W. Arthur Cable and Homer F. Sanger, Educational Blue Book and Directory of the Church of the Brethren with Biographies, 1708-1923. General Education Board of Church of the Brethren, Elgin, Illinois.
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major force toward general unity in the church. Our schools have a very important part in this exchange program and in its uplifting, unifying influence.
1930 Ministers' Conference at Juniata College Twenty of these ministers served as pastors in the Western District.
THESIS ANALYSIS
A summary of theses written on the Church of the Brethren for degrees in higher education in our district is not easy to make. They were written sometimes in rather technical lan- guage and for the critical reader. But underneath the sur- face is the deep-felt yearning to understand the church and her people, and may we say to find her weaknesses, honor her strength, and glorify her accomplishments. Would you like to know more about these messages? Copies are available in the libraries of the educational institutions granting the de- grees.
Following is a list of theses, of Western Pennsylvania min- isters, examined by the writer: 13
1. Brumbaugh, Lewis Henry, A.B., M.A., B.D., Ph.D. Changing Empha- sis of the Church of the Brethren Toward Certain Social Problems. A Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1945.
13 Editor's note: Doctor Faust made a careful and thorough study of all of these theses, and provided a scholarly summary of them, which we regret it was not possible to publish in the limited space.
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2. Clawson, John Harvey, A.B., B.D. A Historical Treatise on the Church of the Brethren. Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1931.
3. Faust, Alvin G., A.B., M.A., Ph.D. Cultural Patterns and Social Ad- justments of the Church of the Brethren with Special Reference to an Allegheny Tableland Community. University of Pittsburgh, 1942.
4. Henry, Tobias F., A.B., B.D., M.A., Ph.D. The Development of Re- ligious Education in the Church of the Brethren in the United States. University of Pittsburgh, 1938.
5. Horst, M. Clyde, A.B., B.D., Th.M. The Atonement in the Old Testa- ment. Western Theological Seminary, 1928.
Also examined: Government in the Church of the Brethren (His- torical and Critical). School of Theology, Juniata College, 1924.
6. Murphy, James E., A.B., M.A. The Alexander Mack Churches. Uni- versity of Pittsburgh, 1940.
7. Neff, Wilbur H., Th.M. The Attitude of the Church of the Brethren Toward the State. Western Theological Seminary, 1945.
Also examined: The Origin of the Christian Communion Service. Western Theological Seminary.
-Alvin G. Faust
CHAPTER 17. BRETHREN BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Alphabetical list of authors Books and pamphlets published Periodicals in this district
This chapter, covering a period of one hundred ten years, may not be complete, but is submitted as a help to future writers.
The earliest historical record dealing with the Brethren in this area, of which we have any knowledge, was published about 1840. It was called Farsomlungs Briefly. About the year 1915, Elder Conrad G. Lint wrote concerning it as follows:
I have in my possession a "Farsomlungs Briefly," which I prize very highly on account of its age, [it] having been published about seventy-five years ago. It contains a roster of the former church fathers, and other information, among it being the names of the heads of forty families, twenty residing in the "Glades" and twenty "on the river."1
In 1846, or twenty years before the Western District was organized, we had already produced an author. John Boger, formerly a deacon at Berlin, after twenty-two years as a
1 Blough's history. Page 82.
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minister at Markleysburg had his book, The Coming of Jesus Christ, published at Somerset.
The first official publication of Western Pennsylvania is of even date with the organization of the district, 1866: Pro- ceedings of the District Meeting of the Western District of Pennsylvania held in the Berlin Branch, Somerset County, on the 5th and 6th of November, 1866. Eighteen "branches" (congregations) are listed as comprising the district, and the names of twenty-four delegates are given. Elder "John Wise was chosen Moderator, Joseph I. Cover, Corresponding Sec- retary, and C. I. Beam, Clerk."
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