USA > Pennsylvania > Two centuries of the Church of the Brethren in western Pennsylvania, 1751-1950 > Part 33
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The Fyocks were among the very early settlers of the Shade area. Historians say:
John Fyock is believed to have been the first settler, and to have cleared the first land within the territory which now con- stitutes Paint township. Joseph and David Troyer, who came from the eastern part of the state, were also early pioneers. Almost contemporaneous with them were: Melker Seese, Philip Hoffman and Christian Kaufman.15
This quotation does not entirely agree with other information we have at hand, but is given for consideration. Seese was one of our first teachers and, though a Lutheran, was the ancestor of many of our members today. The name of Studebaker also appears at Conewago. Benjamin Cable, son of Philip, and his own son, Abraham, 16 were tax payers in Brothersvalley in 1796. Three of the daughters of the latter, and some of the sons became the parents of many of the Shade Creek leaders and officials. This was also true of the Studebaker family as shown previously. Abraham Cable, a member of G. A. Martin's church, was the first justice or judge of Bedford County (which included this area now in Somerset County), as the office was called, when the county organized in 1771.17
15 Waterman, Watkins, op. cit. Page 527.
16 The writer has in his possession an Abraham Cable Bible, the first printed west of the Alleghenies, by Frederick Goeb (German), published at Somerset, Penn- sylvania, in 1813. It lists some of the family genealogy. Jesse and Samuel Berkebile and John Faust married daughters of this Abraham Cable. (There are two Abraham Cables referred to here. They were related.)
17 Colonial Records X:8. Quoted and discussed by the writer in Some Aspects of Social History of Somerset County.
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He "was a man of Property and Reputation, and best qualified of any person in that area to execute the duty of a magistrate. He served many years."
There ought to be space to tell of the co-operative effort of these and many other families and of their contributions to the church at large. The purpose of this extended discussion of families is to illustrate a method of church extension which played a major role in the develop- ment of Shade Creek congregation and likewise in the building of many other congregations. Many of these descendants do not bear the family name but their physical and social heritage had a marked influence upon the church and the community. Other factors helping the growth of the church were intermarriage, visitation of the sick, and ministering to bereaved families.
Minutes of council meetings were not kept prior to 1889, but tradition has it that the first major event in the life of the con- gregation was the first love feast and the election of the first minister. This circumstance was reported to the writer by Elder Joseph Berkey's daughter. The love feast was held in the barn on the Thomas Hayes farm, then apparently in the hands of the Hoffmans. The election resulted in the choice of Christian Lehman. Christian's grandfather, Christian, emigrated from Switzerland before 1753.18 The exact date of this election is not known but it was likely in the eighteen thirties, since he was ordained as the first elder in Shade Creek when it was separated from Conemaugh and organized in the middle forties.
The next election, says Blough,
resulted in the calling of "Big Peter" Berkey and his son, Samuel, a young single brother. This took place several years before the middle of the century. The first two preached in German, and the younger brother in English. Samuel Berkey moved to Benshoff Hill before the organization of the congregation.
After the organization of the congregation we find the following elections: Joseph Berkey (English and German), about 1851; Jacob Holsopple (English and German), 1861; Hiram Musselman (English), 1862; Peter B. Statler (German), 1872. This was the last brother elected who used the German. Peter Knavel, September 14, 1874; Daniel Holsopple, 1884; Jerome Blough and Hiram Lehman, July 10, 1887; James F. Ream, Joseph J. Shaffer and Daniel D. Shaffer, July 4, 1893; Mahlon J. Weaver, 1899; Lorenzo J. Lehman and Lewis G. Shaffer, June 19, 1900; William H. Fry and Josiah L. Weaver, March 31, 1902; Ross D. Murphy and Alvin G. Faust, November 24, 1906; Charles S. Knavel and Frank Shaffer, June 19, 1908; Clarence Earl Shaffer, April 1910; Foster B. Statler and James E. Murphy, November 14, 1914.19
To Blough's list we add the following: Grant E. Weaver and David Shaffer, July 4, 1920; Boyd N. Lehman, ordained August 11, 1925; Charles K. Shaffer and Carl N. Lauer, February 6, 1927; L. John Weaver and Millard E. Weaver, June 20, 1937; Paul Blough, Lee Weaver, and Berkey
18 Blough's history. Page 183.
19 Ibid. Page 185. Frank Shaffer and Clarence Earl Shaffer were never installed.
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Knavel, November 12, 1940; Richard Speicher, 1945.
Ministers who moved into the congregation, says Blough, were
Joseph S. Burk-
hart, Henry P.
Hostetler, who
was the last brother to preach in German (His last German prayer is referred to in church council, April 3, 1894), Dr. S. G. Miller, Francis S. Bowen, David S. Clapper, D. M. Adams, and S. C. Thompson. These moved out: Jo- seph S. Burkhart, to Johnstown; Dr. Miller to Bolivar; J. E. Blough, to Prince William county, Virginia, in 1892, back again in 1899,
and to Quema- honing in 1900. [He later moved to Roxbury, Johnstown, where he died.] J. J. Shaffer also moved out and John F. Graham 1927-1942 after being away Jacob T. Dick 1942-1945 several years re- turned in 1907, and in 1909, moved to Broth- ersvalley. [He moved to Hollidaysburg in 1918, where he died recently.] F. S. Bowen moved to Quemahoning and later to Bedford county; J. F. Ream (deceased) moved to Quakertown, Bucks county in 1908 and some years later moved to Cramer, Indiana county; M. J. Weaver moved to Pittsburgh, and later to Everett. [He held a number of pastorates and his present address is Tyrone.] L. G. Shaffer moved to Johnstown, (where he passed away recently); L. J. Lehman moved to California (and died there); J. L. Weaver moved to Bellefontaine, Ohio. [He returned to Shade Creek, where he passed away August 16, 1941.] D. M. Adams moved to Illinois and
PASTORS OF SHADE CREEK TO 100th ANNIVERSARY
(Current photou am available)
J. J. Shaffer 1907-1909
Merrill S. Heins 1949- ** (Since Anniversary)
S. P. Early 1917-1922
D. M. Adama : 1909-1911
S. C. Thompson 1914-1915
F. R. Zook 1922-1927 too hot available'
Alvin G. Faust 1915-1916
Stewart B. Kauffman 1945
Pastors of Shade Creek to the Time of the One- Hundredth Anniversary
Ministers of Shade Creek Congregation
Seated, left to right: Stewart B. Kauffman, Boyd N. Lehman, Charles K. Shaffer, William H. Frye Standing: Paul Blough, David Shaffer, Millard E. Weaver, Richard Speicher (inset)
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S. C. Thompson to Virginia. R. D. Murphy (was) employed by the General Mission Board, but (had) his membership here.
We may add to Blough's information that Ross D. Murphy filled various pastorates out of the district, including Philadel- phia (First) and Greencastle; Alvin G. Faust later associated with the Rummel and Windber congregations, and at present lives in Pittsburgh; Charles S. Knavel, James E. Murphy, and Foster B. Statler later belonged to the Rummel congregation. James E. Murphy serves Maple Grove. Foster B. Statler served Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and Mount Morris, Illinois; Grant E. Weaver was pastor at Bradford, Ohio, and Wabash, Indiana; Carl Lauer is pastor at Circleville, Ohio; L. John Weaver is pastor at Eaton, Ohio; Lee Weaver is pastor at Hyattsville, Mary- land; and Berkey Knavel is pastor at Myerstown, Pennsylvania. If we add to this list those who were elected in and moved from other divisions of old Shade Creek and those (reared here) elected outside the home congregation, the contribution to the outside is considerable.
The following deacons have served the church, so far as is known: Daniel Berkey, John Custer, Jacob Berkey, Jacob Hoffman, David J. Shaffer, Hiram Shaffer, Aaron Shaffer, Joseph Berkeybile, Peter Knavel, Samuel C. Knavel, Peter Hoffman, Jacob E. Faust, Samuel E. Berkey, Noah J. Hoffman, Jacob C. Knavel, Norman S. Berkey, Jacob Fox, Aaron S. Hoffman, Scott Murphy, Samuel W. Knavel, Ira Manges, Harvey Berkey, Elmer Knavel, Calvin C. Weaver, O. F. Fyock, James Cassidy, C. E. Shuldt, T. N. Park, William Berkebile, Edgar Knavel and Lewis Penrod.20
All of the above except Norman S. Berkey, Samuel W. Knavel, Ira Manges, Elmer Knavel, C. C. Weaver, William Berkebile, and Edgar Knavel had passed away before this history was completed. To these we add (in the order elected): Charles Brubaker, Ross Callihan, Ira Shaffer (deceased), Clarence Jones, Lee Moon, Clair Varner, Warren Blough (deceased), Richard Brubaker, Howard Dull, Howard Ott, Irwin Weaver, Sherman Seese, Virgil Weaver, Herman Shaffer, and Lloyd Weaver.
For a number of years after Shade Creek was organized, services were held in private homes or in spacious barns. When Abram Weaver rebuilt his home, he included in the structure a large room which was furnished expressly for holding church services, as his father-in-law, Jacob Stutzman, had done about 1815 and his brother-in-law, Abram Stutzman, in 1828 near Johnstown. In 1858 a large building was erected on a plot do- nated by Daniel Berkey and was named the Berkey church. Large audiences gathered for the regular preaching services. Sermons were preached both in English and in German. Usu-
20 Blough, op. cit.
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Ger Bap. Ch. near D.Berkeus Paint , T'h.
First Berkey Church From Walker's Map, 1860
ally the discourses were an hour or more in length and were fired with a spirit of sincerity and earnestness accompanied by some hammering on the pulpit with one or two fists for emphasis. There was no church clock. In 1898 a new building was erected; this was used until 1927, when it burned to the ground in the night following a Sunday evening love feast. A new church, -about eight feet narrower and ten feet shorter-was dedicated in 1928 by Ralph W. Schlosser. There was some question whether the community, in which coal lands were now exploited or sold outright, could support another church. All this has changed again.
Ridge Church, 1950
11
The Ridge church was erected in 1872 on ground donated by Aaron Shaffer. This church is frequently re- ferred to as the Shaffer church. It was twenty-eight by thirty-six feet in size and similar in architecture to the Scalp Level and Rummel or Greenland churches. The lat- ter were a bit larger. In 1912
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the Ridge church was rebuilt. This second Ridge church was de- stroyed by fire in 1917 and was replaced by the present structure.
In 1912 a church was built near Hagevo. Material from the dis- mantled Cross Roads church was used in erecting this structure and it was known as the Morningland church. Here services had been held for many years in the schoolhouse. Although efforts had been made over a long period of years to have a church located here, the result
4
Churches of Shade Creek Congregation
(1) First Berkey church (remodeled); (2) first Ridge church after removed from foundations; (3) second Rummel church; (4) Highland church; (5) Hagevo church; (6) second Berkey church; (7) second Ridge church; (8) remodeled Rummel church
was short-lived because of the effects of industry, the moving away of members, and improved means of transportation. The building was sold in 1930. The members living in this vicinity now go to the Berkey church.
The village of Blough is located in Quemahoning Township, along Stony Creek, at a spot about a mile north of Hooversville. Here in 1890 the Quemahoning congregation began the erection of a house of worship sometimes called the Sugar Grove church but more generally known as the Blough church. The ground on which the church stands was donated by Jacob B. Blough.
Other names appearing in the list of those contributing labor, money, or material are: Koontz, Beabes, Lehman, Cus- ter, Dull, Lint, Hershberger, Spaugy, Herring, and Shaffer. Daniel Blough, for forty years the janitor here, furnished without charge the fuel re- Blough Church (Sugar Grove) quired for heating the church. The Blough church was dedi- cated February 8, 1891, by Daniel H. Walker and Emanuel J. Blough, the latter speaking in German.
Changing conditions incident to the transition from the free ministry to the pastoral system, and the moving of members to other localities led to the closing of this church by the Quemahoning congregation in 1911. About two years later a union Sunday school was organized, and in 1925 the work at Blough was taken over by the Shade Creek congrega- tion. Just recently the church was deeded to Shade Creek. A Sunday school is maintained and preaching services are held each Sunday. The present membership is about sixty-five.
In the year 1919 William Gahagen, a member of the Windber church, bought a large tract of land off Route 160, about a mile north of the Lincoln Highway, and began mining operations. The town which sprang up was given his name. The story of the establishing of a place of worship here follows:
Mrs. Elmer Gindlesberger wrote a letter to J. F. Graham, pastor of the Shade Creek congregation, requesting help in or- ganizing a Sunday school in Gahagen. As a result of this request the church sent J. L. Weaver and wife to Gahagen to supervise the beginning of a Sunday school. The school was organized in 1933, the home of Mrs. Gindlesberger serving for a few weeks as a meeting place. Later a schoolhouse was used for about three months. Then an old farmhouse on the edge of town was secured from the Gahagens. Here services were held until 1941, when the group moved into a new church building constructed by men of the community for a cash cost of five hundred dollars. The ground on which it stands was leased to the church for a period of ninety-nine years by Clarence Gahagen. Brother Law- rence Bianchi preached the first sermon in the new church.
Until 1950 the major emphasis of the work at Gahagen was given to Sunday-school activities. Since October 1950, preaching services are held each Sunday morning. From its organization until 1950 this school has been given assistance by leaders from the Berkey church. Lawrence Strausbaugh will give all of his time to the Gahagen church as pastor during the summer of 1951.
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For a brief period the Shade Creek congregation put forth effort to maintain a church in Central City. The writer, as pastor, found about thirty members and adherents here in 1915 and urged the opening of a church. A Sunday school was organized in 1922, with J. M. Foster superintendent. It was held in the schoolhouse; when the schoolhouse was needed again for public school, for various reasons it was decided to close the Sunday school. The absence of a church in this populous center seems like a blind spot in the history of the congregation. The void seems tremendous and unjustifiable.
J. J. Shaffer was the first pastor who served the Shade Creek congregation from 1907 to 1909. D. M. Adams followed from 1909 to 1911. In 1912 Shade Creek was divided into two congrega- tions. This second Shade Creek had two pastors: S. C. Thompson, 1914-1915; Alvin G. Faust, 1915-1916. Brother Faust was active in the promotion of teacher-training and mission-study classes and singing schools, and compiled the first complete member- ship list. He also had an extended pastoral report and letter printed, which is now a valuable record.
In 1916 a second division resulted in the present congregations of Rummel and Shade Creek. The first pastor of Shade Creek following this division was S. P. Early, 1917-1922. From 1922 to 1927 F. R. Zook served as pastor. J. F. Graham served from 1927 to 1942. Shortly after he assumed the pastorate the Berkey church was destroyed by fire. The rebuilding of this church created some difficult problems. From 1942 to 1945 Jacob T. Dick served the congregation. The next pastor was Stewart B. Kauff- man, 1945 to 1948. The first pastor of the second century is Merril S. Heinz, who began his work in 1949. These dynamic leaders have greatly stimulated the work among young and old.
Shade Creek was one of the first congregations of the district to assume the support of a foreign missionary, Anna Z. Blough from 1905 until her retirement from missionary duty.
This, at present, is no "dying country church." It is a dynamic center of religious and civic community activity. The story of men's and women's work, if properly told, would add much to the picture. This is also a rural center for homecomings, Easter sunrise services, and young people's assemblies. To the older members the church here brings memories of a sacred, hallowed retreat.
-Alvin G. Faust, assisted by Clarence Frye
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CHAPTER 52. THE SIPESVILLE CHURCH
The log church built, 1860 First Sunday school organized, 1886 Present church membership, 340
In 1860 a log church was built in the southern end of the Quemahoning congregation near Sipesville, Somerset County, on land purchased from Abraham Baker. In this log church our first Sunday school was held in 1886 and 1887, with Josiah P. Meyers superintendent and John J. Darr secretary. For some reason this school was discontinued for a time.
This log meetinghouse was replaced in 1888 by a long frame building with a basement suitable for love-feast arrangements. John J. Darr and Joseph Forney did most of the construction work, including the making of the benches or pews. C. G. Lint preached the dedicatory sermon.
Sunday school was again organized in 1897 or 1898 with William Blough superintendent and A. J. Beeghly assistant. Since about 1900 the school has been evergreen, not closing in the winter months, as was formerly done.
The church had only a few members for a while, but in June and July 1904 H. S. Replogle held a revival which resulted in thirty-one new members being baptized. This was the be- ginning of a growing church at Sipesville. One brother eighty years old was baptized.
In the year 1915 C. A. McDowell became the first pastor, and in the summer of 1918 a brick church was built on a new site in
Sipesville Church, 1950
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the village of Sipesville. J. H. Cassady preached the dedication sermon in September.
The Sipesville church became a separate congregation in June 1920. Our first daily vacation Bible school was held in 1921. The brick parsonage was built in 1924. The following pastors have served our church: C. A. McDowell, H. Q. Rhodes, William C. Detrick, J. Lloyd Nedrow, Charles W. Blough, New- ton D. Cosner, and Cecil O. Showalter, who closed his work in September 1950. Our present pastor, Eli S. Keeny, came into our midst on November 1, 1950.
Throughout its history the Sipesville church has led or stood out in a number of new enterprises in the district and in the community. In 1922 our church held the first rural com- munity Bible school in the district. The average attendance was two hundred. Those who taught this first Bible school were: Fannie Edmiston Brendle, Mrs. W. R. Critchfield, Edna Kush, Mrs. William Brendle, and Mrs. A. G. Maust.
During the twenties, separate departments for worship were or- ganized and the church basement was remodeled to include more Sunday-school rooms and a worship room for the primary department. Today the Sunday school has outgrown the basement. In order to provide more space for pupils and to have a better worship service, the church has underway a building program which will be carried out in 1951.
Congregation at Sipesville, 1950
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The new building calls for a newly arranged auditorium, pews, a pulpit, a choir loft, nine classrooms, and a newly equipped kitchen.
A Hammond organ was purchased and installed in 1942. The church bought a plot of ground and enlarged the parking lot. We are working on a grove back of the church for recreation, socials, and plans for a building some time for the outdoor life of the church.
At present the congregation has grown to three hundred forty members, and the Sunday school has an enrollment of two hundred fifty. With the new church building, the Sipes- ville congregation is looking forward to growth and a larger service.
-Mrs. W. R. Critchfield
CHAPTER 53. THE SOMERSET CHURCH
Sunday school organized, March 16, 1919 Present church dedicated, May 7, 1922 Present church membership, 533
The present Somerset Church of the Brethren effected its first formal organization at a council meeting held in Somerset, on January 28, 1920. But in reality the Church of the Brethren had been in the community, according to early records, for at least a century preceding that council meeting. About 1762 the
Somerset Stone Church
The Trent Church and Cemetery
Courtesy Listie Brethren Church
first Dunkers migrated into the territory that is now Somerset County, near the town of Berlin. The church grew rapidly, spreading the faith over the entire county. In 1849 the county was divided into four separate congregations, the hub of which was somewhere near Somerset, the county seat. Thus it seems safe to assume that some of the Dunker faith existed within the bounds of what is now the Somerset congregation.
Again in 1880 another division took place and the old Brothersvalley congregation was broken up into four smaller congregations, one of which was Somerset. This church was surrounded by the Brothersvalley, Stony Creek, Quemahoning, and Middle Creek congregations. The Somerset congregation of that period, however, was located in Somerset Township at the edge of what is now known as Listie. It had one house of worship, which was called the Trent church. The membership was about seventy-five. Michael Weyand and Solomon J. Baer were two of its ministers, and William N. Trent and Philip F. Cupp were the deacons. The church house had been built in 1866. After the division of the German Baptists and the Progressive Brethren the church was purchased by the latter group, who used it until about 1892, when it was dismantled and the best of the lumber was used in the erection of the First Brethren church in Listie. The members remaining with the German Baptists aligned themselves once more with the Brothersvalley congregation, building a house of worship, which was called the Rayman church. The Somerset congregation of that era ceased to exist.
During the same period other German Baptist churches ex- isted within a radius of three miles of the town of Somerset. The map executed in 1860 by Edward Walker shows a picture of the Grove German Baptist church, better known by many as the Plank Road church. It was situated about one and one- half miles west of Somerset and was part of the Middle Creek congregation.
In Blough's History of the Church of the Brethren in Western Pennsylvania, pages 323 and 324, we find an account of the be- ginning of this church.
Cornelius Berkley, son of Elder John and Susan (Miller) Berkley, was born on a farm one mile north of Meyersdale, Penna., December 29, 1824. He grew to manhood on the farm. His educational privileges were limited to the schools as they then existed. On March 5, 1848, he was married to Susan Meyers, daughter of Samuel
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Meyers of Berlin. In early life they made a profession of faith and were received into the church. They moved on a farm along the plank road between Somerset and Lavansville, into a community where at that time the Dunker faith was held in contempt, and was even laughed at. This was, however, because it was not under- stood. Brother Berkley's faith and perseverance were strong, and
Grove Ch Ger- Bay.
Somerse
Grove Church From Walker's Map, 1860
in a few years the family, by their Christian influence and labors, had gathered a lot of friends about them, the result being that a meetinghouse was built on a part of his farm.
Services were discontinued in 1914 when the members at- tending there merged with those of the old Laurel Hill Creek church (sometimes referred to as the Kimmel church) and built the Pike Run church. The Grove church was sold in 1917.
According to Blough's history, in 1856 Jacob D. Miller donated a plot of ground on his farm one mile north of Somerset for the erection of a house of worship. The deed for this church was recorded in 1861 according to the records in the Somerset County courthouse. This church was called Fairview (not to be confused with the Fairview church near Kingwood). This was a simple structure, having, however, a Gothic window over the central entrance. According to some who remember it, the interior was plain and unpainted, both walls and benches. There was a vestibule inside the door which had two doors leading into the sanctuary. A center aisle divided the men's seats from those of the sisters. Elder Urias Braucher lived on the Miller farm late in the nineteenth century. A nephew's wife, Mrs. William Braucher, who
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