USA > Pennsylvania > Two centuries of the Church of the Brethren in western Pennsylvania, 1751-1950 > Part 20
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Because of the steady and continuous growth of the mem- bership, many began to see the need of a new church and espe- cially the need of more cemetery ground. The two existing cemeteries were situated some distance from the road and were well filled. Nothing was done, however, until Simon P. Hager purchased from George Chisnel a plot of ground bordering the Farmington-Elliottsville road, about halfway between the two villages, for a cemetery. This was in 1916. Later, Simon P. Hager headed a paper for contributions for a new church to be built on this plot of ground, the present location of the new church and the cemetery. His two sons, Thomas G. and Jacob G. Hager, each subscribed five hundred dollars. From this start good contributions came in from members and friends, both in Uniontown and in and about Farmington, and some from Mark- leysburg, also. Thomas G. Hager had previously purchased a new Bessemer truck, which was used largely for hauling all materials. This new truck was driven by J. G. Hager, Walter Herring, and others, free of charge. The new church was started in 1917. The work was pushed forward by M. J. Weller, Simon P.
Mrs. Haase, Organist
John E. Grim, Pastor
Norma Irene and Nancy Jane Hager
Thorn-Crowned Cross and Easter Lillies
Easter Sunrise Service and Fellowship Breakfast
Pictures in Bethel Church on Easter
The two little girls are great-great-great-granddaughters of Solomon Workman, who donated the ground, built, and partly furnished the first Bethel church. They are also great-great-granddaughters of Simon P. Hager, who donated the ground for the present church.
Hager, Sam and Nick Rishel, S. F. Workman, and perhaps others. Even the ladies sometimes encouraged the workingmen by serv- ing hot coffee, tea, and warm meals. Donations of materials, time, and money came in so freely that when the new church was ready to be dedicated on July 15, 1919, it was dedicated prac- tically free of indebtedness.
This was also the closing year of Brother Weller's services as pastor. His successor was Daniel K. Clapper from Meyersdale, who became the first nonresident pastor of the new church and served for many years, at a very nominal fee. Following him, in order, were Calvin R. Wolfe, Newton D. Cosner, and H. C. Hess, all of Markleysburg, then Brother Wolfe again. Then B. B. Ludwick moved to Markleysburg and took over the Markleysburg circuit, which included Bethel and Wharton Furnace Union Chapel. He served about one and a half years. Up to this time other Brethren ministers came in and preached (some quite frequently); among them were William Bucklew, Joseph Guthrie, Marlin Maust, George Van Sickle, Chester Thomas, Jacob Rodehaver, Henry H. Glover, and S. W. Fike.
During this period several of the members, led by Brother Weller, completed a basement. When it was completed the ladies of the church and the community served a big, free sup- per to all those who did any work. In recognition of the physical and spiritual work done by Brother Weller, the new basement was dedicated in honor of him.
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On February 17, 1946, the church purchased from Ellsworth Thomas eleven and seven-tenths acres of ground, across the road from the present church, for $1,250.00. This new piece of ground is being used for a parsonage, recreational grounds, and a cemetery park.
During the last year of B. B. Ludwick's pastorate, the Bethel church secured E. Eugene Ankeny as their summer pastor. Then M. Guy West filled in after Brother Ludwick left, until Robert Neff came as pastor of both the Bethel church and Wharton Furnace Union Chapel. He remained at Bethel about three months, after which W. C. Sell, pastor at Mount Pleasant, filled the pulpit at Bethel every two weeks. He and his wife, Alice D. Sell, who is a permanently licensed minister, officially took up the pastorate of the Bethel and Wharton Furnace charge on June 1, 1948.
Shortly after the arrival of the pastor, a parsonage committee was elected. Through the work of nearly two hundred local people, plus the co-operation of all organizations of the Bethel church and many people from churches such as Wharton Furnace Union Chapel and the Caanan and the Markleysburg Church of the Brethren, we were able to erect a $14,000.00 parsonage and dedicate it on June 26, 1949, free of indebtedness. M. Guy West preached the dedicatory sermon.
During the last two years the church has been separated from the Markleysburg circuit and has been recognized and accepted by the District of Western Pennsylvania as the Farm- ington-Bethel Church of the Brethren.
On Route 40, where we enter the Farmington-Elliottsville road, two signs have been erected pointing the way to the church one mile southwest. An electrically lighted outside bul-
Farmington- Bethel Parsonage
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letin board has been erected in front of the church building.
A live, wide-awake men's brotherhood of thirty men has been organized. It published and distributed about one thousand parsonage- dedication booklets, containing a list of contributors and the names of church members. This organization also farmed a "Lord's Acre" of sweet corn last year and is planning on doing the same this year. It helps the sick and needy people in the community, and is planning to landscape the parsonage grounds, build a picnic shelter with tables and a fireplace and make tennis and shuffleboard courts and ball grounds, to help the younger generation into a more wholesome attitude toward one another.
The ladies' aid was organized about twenty-three years ago, and now has an enrollment of fifty women. The adult Sunday-school class has monthly meetings, and the average Sunday attendance last year was thirty-two. The young married people's class plans to organize soon. The young people's Sunday-school class is well attended, has monthly meetings, and carries out different projects. The parish is divided into seven districts with a home department worker over each district, caring for the sick and infirm and for all persons not coming to the Sunday school or the church.
WHARTON FURNACE UNION CHAPEL
In the fall and winter of 1926-1927 a group of men from Bedford and Fulton counties, who had been employed by the Summit Lumber Company, settled with their families in the mountains near the old Wharton Furnace. A majority at that time were members of the Church of the Brethren.
In the spring of 1928 this group met at the schoolhouse and
Wharton Furnace
Union Chapel
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organized what is still known to many as the Wharton Furnace union Sunday school, with Mrs. G. A. Fischer as the first super- intendent.
In the spring of 1940 a building committee, composed of Clay- ton Thomas, Carl Snyder, Ray West, Clem Fischer, James Scott, Samuel Cole, and Norman Diehl, met with the Sunday school to discuss plans for a church building. In May 1940, ground was pur- chased from the Hager heirs; on May 20 the ground was broken and the work on the new church was started. Through the untir- ing efforts of these men and help from the surrounding commun- ity, the work progressed so rapidly that in less than five months from the time of breaking the ground the church was dedicated, on October 6, 1940, free of indebtedness. It is located on the fur- nace road, two miles north of Elliottsville and two miles west of the Bethel church.
This Sunday-school group is composed of members of the Brethren, Baptist, Christian, Progressive Brethren, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, and Presbyterian denominations. Although this church has for many years been listed as a part of the Markleysburg circuit, yet it has continuously had ministers of various other faiths to come and minister to the membership.
The church is planning a big anniversary celebration to be held October 6, 1950, in honor of the tenth anniversary of the dedication of the church.
-W. C. Sell
CHAPTER 16. THE GARRETT CHURCH
First pastor secured, 1893 Church house dedicated, 1895 Present church membership, 27
Much of the early history of the Garrett Church of the Brethren is included in the history of the Berlin congregation, of which Garrett was a part until October 1948, when it was made a separate congregation.
Dr. R. T. Pollard became the first pastor in March 1893. The present frame building was dedicated in 1895 by Dr. Martin G. Brumbaugh, later governor of Pennsylvania. The deacons at that time were Jerome Judy and William H. Miller.
In September 1899 Dr. Pollard resigned as pastor and Warren
W. Blough succeeded him. Dr. Pollard became elder. Daniel W. Long was elected in 1908 and B. F. Waltz in 1915. Others who served as pastors were: Daniel Clapper, George Detweiler (this being his first pastorate), Guy Wampler, and John D. Long. The present pastor, A. Jay Replogle, began his work here on July 1, 1939. He Garrett Church has also served the church as elder. These men served the Garrett church in connection with their work at Beachdale.
William Phennicie has been the Sunday-school superintendent since 1931. Others who served in that capacity were R. T. Pollard, William H. Miller, and Michael Sweeney.
There has been an active aid society for at least thirty-five years. The society has been a great help to the church financially by making rugs. Among those who served as president of the society are: Mrs. Maude Phennicie, Mrs. Mary Brocht, Mrs. Mary Lehman, and Mrs. Mary Gray, who is serving at the present time.
-W. F. Phennicie
The pastor, A. Jay Replogle, sent a copy of this brief history to one of Garrett's now-famous sons, Brother William L. Judy, of the Judy Publishing Company, Judy Building, Michigan Boulevard, Chicago, requesting more information, to which he received the following reply:
Dear A. J.,
Here are a few notes per your letter of 14 August. Will see you at the Garrett Oldtimers' Luncheon, Saturday, Sept. 2, 1950. Hope some of the Beachdale and Salisbury Dunkers can come to the Cross Roads church services Sunday morning, 11:00 A.M.
Bill Phennicie's notes are good-I'm jotting just a few random remarks. That the town of Garrett did not have a meeting place for those of the Dunker, or as they were then called, German Baptist Brethren, faith until 1893 is strange, in view of the large population of settlers of this faith in the Beachdale area. Likely the old, flourishing Summit Mills or Mechanicsburg church, as well as the Beachdale church, gave facilities for worship to the Dunkers in the Garrett area. The Cross Roads church, two miles to the west, was built in 1887.
The building in Garrett, as erected on a pleasant bit of lowland on the banks of the Buffalo Creek, was spacious, of two floors, and the largest of the church groups in the town. It had the common fault of not being warm in winter time, and even fiery preaching did not improve the situation.
The church was fortunate in having the local town physician, Richard Thomas Pollard, as its first pastor. This self-educated man was an eloquent speaker by nature, and his contribution to the entire community life was vast and good. The Garrett congregation has been blessed with able pastors. Warren W. Blough comes to the
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writer's mind as one of those soldiers of the faith who worked hard, preached hard and got little compensation out of the collection basket. He came from Beachdale in his horse-rig every fortnight, and at times worked in the coal mines in order to support himself and family. He moved on to Kansas in 1908.
The church had a large part in the life of its members in the early days. It furnished most of the social life, rather the oppor- tunity to gather in public. Until 1905, it had a regular Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sunday school at 2 in the afternoon on Sunday, except when preaching services were held. The Sunday school was really the functioning part of the church, and lured on by the treat of candy, orange and popcorn, the attendance in December would reach record figures.
Such names come to my mind of hard-working, God-fearing families who were a credit to the community and state-Fogles, Pollards, Judys, Fishers, Millers, Longs, Lees, Deals and others. They sang loudly, prayed deeply and lived sincerely.
For ourself, a Sunday school teacher there, and as a pupil getting six golden stars for not missing a Sunday in six years, my memory is still clear of the baptismal events, and in my own case with four others, being baptized on a cold April Sunday in the Buffalo Creek, muddy and fast-flowing from the spring rains. All in all, it is gratifying to observe that the Church of the Brethren has kept pace with a moving, changing world and that its basic principles are as needed today as in other years. May the old church on the banks of the Buffalo Creek sound its bell on a quiet Sunday morning thru many years to come.
(Signed) Will Judy.
CHAPTER 17. THE GEIGER CHURCH
First church built, 1885 Present church dedicated, 1914 Present church membership, 176
The first church building at Geiger, built in 1885, was dedi- cated by James Quinter on January 31, 1886. It was known as the Summit church and was owned jointly by the Middle Creek and Brothersvalley congregations.
The first ministers who served were for the most part local men. Among them were: Josiah Johnson, Michael Weyand, John C. Schrock, Norman Christner, William Schrock, Valentine Blough, Wesley Cover, Philip Cupp, George Keim, Samuel F. Reiman, George Schrock, Daniel H. Walker, U. D. Braucher, Silas Hoover, J. W. Wegley, Isaiah Ferguson, Samuel Shober, B. B. Ludwick, Harvey H. Kimmel, Samuel A. Meyers, A. J. Beeghly, J. J. Shaffer, Perry Miller, R. D. Casebeer, L. S. Knepper, and F. F. Beeghly.
Geiger Church Congregation, 1950
The first church was replaced by the present brick structure in 1914. J. H. Cassady preached the dedicatory sermon August 23, 1914.
In the council meeting of February 17, 1922, with L. S. Knepper, our first paid pastor, in charge, it was decided to organize a separate congregation at Geiger. F. H. Beeghly, D. J. Maust, and W. C. Weighley were appointed to present the request for a separate congregation to each of the partnership owners. The request was also to be made to the Quemahoning congregation, since many of the attending members held mem- bership in that church.
On April 10, 1922, the Geiger church met in council and re- ceived a favorable report from the other churches, permitting the organization. At the same council meeting a full church organization was effected with J. W. Wegley as elder and Lewis S. Knepper as pastor.
A petition for recognition as a separate congregation was presented at District Meeting by the pastor, L. S. Knepper. This was accepted, and we became a separate congregation. The charter membership was about sixty in 1922.
On May 15, 1922, the Geiger church called H. Q. Rhodes as part-time pastor; he served the Sipesville congregation also. In 1924 Brother Rhodes accepted the pastorate of the Brothers-
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valley congregation, discontinuing his work at Sipesville, but continuing to serve the Geiger church. He served the Brothers- valley congregation and the Geiger congregation as elder and pastor until April 1942. During his pastorate, the Geiger church prospered and grew in membership.
On July 1, 1942, Roy S. Forney accepted the joint pastorate of the Geiger and Brothersvalley congregations. He served us five years, until June 1, 1947. During his pastorate, Geiger made many improvements in church property and improved the near- by grove.
Our present pastor, Kenneth R. Blough, came to us on July 1, 1947. He is serving us and the Hooversville congregation jointly. The church continues to grow and prosper. Both the church building and the grounds are in good repair. The present officials are: elder, Galen R. Blough, Somerset; pastor, Kenneth R. Blough, Davidsville; deacons, H. J. Beabes, George Baer, E. C. Miller, and Robert Hottle. The present membership is one hun- dred seventy-six.
Elders who have served this church include Silas Hoover, Valentine Blough, Daniel H. Walker, J. W. Wegley, H. Q. Rhodes, F. F. Beeghly, Roy S. Forney, and Galen R. Blough.
The deacons have been Peter Speicher, W. W. Cupp, Sherman Peck, William Baughman, William Weighley, H. J. Beabes, George Baer, E. C. Miller, and Robert Hottle.
The first Sunday school was organized March 27, 1887, with about thirty enrolled. C. M. Shaver was the superintendent. The first Sunday school was held six months of each year, from March to September or October. The superintendents were C. M. Shaver, Philip Cupp, John D. Baer, George J. Schrock, Isaiah B. Ferguson, Sherman Peck, Harry Cupp, W. W. Cupp, H. B. Speicher, E. C. Miller, William Speicher, and H. J. Beabes, who has served more than twenty years. The present enrollment of the Sunday school is one hundred eighty-five.
The ladies' aid was organized in 1918. There were twenty-seven charter members. The present membership is forty-two. The presidents have been Mrs. W. W. Cupp, Mrs. S. M. Peck, Mrs. D. W. Walker, Mrs. Gordon Bowman, and Mrs. E. C. Miller. The ladies' aid has rendered much help to the church both in service and financially through the years.
A men's organization was begun in 1946. The president of men's work is John Shaffer. The men have devoted much time in helping to make improvements in both the church building and the grounds.
A young people's organization has been active part of the time from 1918 to 1943. The presidents were Arthur Cupp, F. F. Beeghly, Wilbert Beeghly, Gladys Beeghly, and James Baughman.
-Mabel M. Baker
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CHAPTER 18. THE GEORGES CREEK CONGREGATION
Congregation organized, 1790 First supported pastor, 1842 Present church membership, 77
The story of the Brethren in the Monongahela River Valley during the past two centuries, if related in interesting detail, would fill a modern volume. The limited space available in this history permits only the briefest outline. Greene, Wash- ington, and Fayette counties were long a stronghold of the Brethren; and for many years the leadership of the district, and much of the leadership of the Brotherhood, resided in the churches of these counties. Markleysburg, Indian Creek, Jacobs Creek, Ten Mile, and Ryerson Station all benefited from, and enjoyed the leadership of, the Georges Creek congregation for almost a century.
Fayette County was erected in 1783, and the "town of Union" (Uniontown) was made the county seat. The next year, 1784, the first members of the Church of the Brethren moved into what is now Springhill Township. Two families composed the little colony. One was that of George Custer, whose wife, Catherine (Leatherman) Custer, was a granddaughter of Daniel Leatherman, bishop of the seven Brethren churches in Mary- land.1 The other family was that of Jacob Gansz, Sr., a widower, together with three of his sons, George, Joseph, Jacob, Jr., and one daughter, Anna, who later "married an Arnold and lived and died on Ten Mile Creek," Washington County.
1 Brumbaugh, A History of the Brethren (1899). Page 336.
Fairview Church Today; Formerly Georges Creek
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Few if any of the congregations of Western Pennsylvania have had as close a fellowship with the mother church at Germantown, and especially blood relationship with the fam- ily of Alexander Mack. Jacob Gansz, Sr., was the son of George Balser Gansz, who became associated with Alexander Mack at Schwarzenau, Germany, and came with Peter Becker and the first emigrants to America in October 1719, settling at Ger- mantown.2
Jacob had a sister, Agnes, who married William Mack, son of Alexander Mack, Jr. They settled near Waynesboro, Penn- sylvania, and on August 29, 1773, their first son, Jacob Mack, was born. His life through his progeny was to have a remark- able influence on the District of Western Pennsylvania as well as the Georges Creek congregation. Young Jacob Mack, after receiving the schooling available in his home community, near Waynesboro, was sent to the Germantown Academy, near the mother church in the north part of Philadelphia. This was only natural, because his grandfather, Alexander Mack, Jr., was closely associated with Christopher Sower, Jr., who was con- nected with the school there for many years.
Jacob Mack's father had a sister, Elizabeth Mack, who was married to John Holsinger, who migrated to the Dunnings Creek church, in Bedford County, which for many years belonged to Western Pennsylvania. When young Jacob finished his educa- tion, it was only a normal desire to "go west," where his Aunt Elizabeth Mack Holsinger and his Uncle Jacob Gansz, Sr., with the four cousins, George, Jacob, Jr., Joseph, and Anna, lived. But during his academy years things were happening west of the Alleghenies.
Elder George Wolfe, Sr., moved from Lancaster County to Fayette County in 1787, three years after the arrival of the Custer and Gansz families. Three years later, 1790, the member- ship in what is now known as Georges Creek numbered ten,3 and probably it was Elder Wolfe who formed it into a congre- gation and presided over it for ten years before going farther "west." In making this statement, the writer is aware that Blough's history, page 303, credits John Ache with being "the first elder of Georges Creek." We have searched the U. S. Cen- sus, 1790, and find that John Ache is not listed in Fayette County, but "George Woolf," his wife and two sons "under 16 years," are listed in German Township. John Ache was listed in 1790
2 From Descent from GEORGE BALSER GANSZ (1929), by John L. Gans.
3 Howard Miller's Record of the Faithful (1882). Page 13.
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in "Lancaster county, Cocalico township, two males over 16 years, two males under 16 years, three females. No slaves."
The land records of Fayette County date back to 1784, but the first property purchased by John Ache is dated "July 28, 1801, from John and Jane Minor, of Greene township, Greene county, to Rev. John Ache, of German township, now Nicholson township, situated between Catts Run and Jacobs Creek. Re- corded January 7, 1802." There is a family burial plot on the farm. The will of John Ache was written on January 8, 1807, and recorded and compared on September 20, 1808.4 From it we quote briefly:
In God's Name Amen. I, John Ache, living in German Township, Fayette county, in the Province of Pennsylvania, being now old and weak, yet of sound mind and memory, for which I thank my God, and as all men must die, so I think of making my last will and Testa- ment. I commit my soul into the hands of God who gave it to me and that my body after my death be deposited in its mother earth in a decent christian like manner, in the hope that God will at the last day again waken me to a blessed life.
I do bequeath to my loving wife, Elizabeth, all the money that is owing to me, . . .
Here he mentions the children, and their inheritance: "Chris- tina (married to John Kober), 40 acres; Henry (who had re- ceived his "portion twenty years ago"); Michael, 1361/4 acres; Samuel, 141 acres; and Susanna, Catherine and Elizabeth," who were to receive so many "pounds" each, to be paid to them by Michael and Samuel, the administrators.
We are told that George Wolfe, Sr., with his two sons, went down the river to Kentucky in 1800, but he did not leave the church here without a spiritual leader, as Joseph Leatherman, a son of Bishop Daniel Leatherman, moved here that year and remained until his death in 1848. Elder Leatherman was the executor of his father's estate (Bishop Leatherman died in 1798). He had the care of his mother, who doubtless would want to come into the valley, as two sons, Daniel, Jr., and George, were already in the Ten Mile congregation, across the river, and Catherine's family had been here since 1784. Peter Longanecker settled one and one-half mile west of Masontown (Germantown) in 1804. James Fouch (Pfautz) came in 1814, and James Kelso in 1824.
Young Jacob Mack, referred to earlier in this story, came into the Georges Creek congregation about 1796, married a German girl, Nancy Moser, and, true to the Mack tradition, bought an ox-
4 Prothonotary's office, Uniontown courthouse, Fayette County.
mill (later changed to water) on Brown's Run, about a mile from the Monongahela River, where he established his resi- dence and built a home of such dimensions that it was used so often for religious services as sometimes to be The Mack Home (Remodeled), Used for Church Before 1835 called "Mack's church." Their fourth child, Jacob, was born in 1803; he was elected to the ministry, became an elder or bishop, and was a contem- porary of James Quinter, both in Pennsylvania and in Ohio.
The home of Jacob and Nancy Moser Mack was blessed with seven children, the first born January 10, 1797 was called Agnes, and married Jacob Longanecker, a young Mennonite who lived on the adjoining farm. Her great-granddaughter, Miss Oma Karn [the author], said that "Great-grandmother Agnes refused to become the wife of Jacob Longanecker until he was baptised into the Tunker church."
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