USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > The First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee : the addresses delivered in connection with the observance of the one hundredth anniversary, November 8-15, l9l4 > Part 10
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In 1899, Dr. James D. Plunket was elected an elder ;
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Byrd Douglas, Clarence B. Wallace and E. P. Bronson were raised from the diaconate to the eldership, and John A. McEwen, Dr. William Bailey, J. D. Jacobs, Dr. Matthew G. Buckner, Edgar M. Foster, Duncan Mckay, W. D. Witherspoon and John Irvine Armstrong were made deacons.
Ruling Elder Joseph Branch O'Bryan was a native Tennessean, having been born at Franklin, Williamson County, on November 2, 1838. Soon after reach- ing adolescence he came to Nashville and began commercial life. At 16 he joined W. O. Eastin. Elder 1892-1904. the First Presbyterian Church. In 1867, two years after returning from the war between the States, he was elected by the congregation to the diaconate. Here he served for three years, until 1870. when he was elevated to the Bench of Elders, and for thirty years he was active in the duties of the office of elder. His church occupied a large place in his thoughts and life. From his earliest youth he was religiously inclined and never had any "wild oats" to sow. He was a man of the highest personal integrity, having a positive cast of character, being frank. outspoken and direct. He thought clearly and acted energetically and courageously. Possessing great will power, he was essen- tially a man of results, though never os- tentatious in his methods. He was a just man, and, withal, a man with the tender- est heart. yet he never permitted his sym- E. P. Bronson. Deacon 1896-1899. Elder 1899-1904. pathies to subvert his judgment. After a brief illness he passed to his final reward at the age of 62, as the shadows began to gather for the night on March 17, 1900.
In 1901. John C. Kennedy, John B. Garrett, C. C. Fos-
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ter, T. G. Tinsley and E. W. Foster were elected members of the Board of Deacons.
In 1904, Frank N. Boensch, Sr., Wyatt T. Abernathy, Dr. Matthew G. Buckner, Duncan Mc- Kay and Dr. William Bailey were ele- vated from the diaconate to the elder- ship, and Robert T. Hopkins, George M. White, John P. W. Brown, Charles S. Caldwell, Dr. D. R. Stubblefield, Thomas P. Kennedy and Dr. John A. Wither- spoon were made deacons.
In 1911 the following were elected Wyatt T. Abernathy. deacons: Charles E. Cooper, Lee Doug- Deacon 1896-1904. Elder 1904-1914. las, Verner Moore Lewis, William Win- ter Lyon, A. Tillman Jones and Jacob
W. Brown.
In 1913, Bradford Nichol, Sr., William C. Collier and Henry Sperry were raised from the diaconate to the Bench of Elders ; George W. Killebrew was elected an elder, and Dr. McPheeters Glasgow, Lemuel R. Campbell, William Simpson, E. A. Ruddiman, W. Ridley Wills, J. C. Lucus and Frank Boensch, Jr., were made deacons.
THE TABLES.
As a ready reference chart we have prepared the two tables which appear below. The first table has to do with the eldership, the other with the deaconship, and together they give all the office-bearers the church has had through the one hundred years ending November 14, 1914. At a glance under the headings of the different columns one can see, beginning on the left and reading to the right, in the first column, the name of every individual ruling elder who has actively served the church within the century; in the next column, the total service in years he as elder has ren- dered the church up to this time; in the next column, the
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total years' service he as deacon has given the church; in another column is given the date of such service the indi- vidual rendered as trustee; in another, as Stated Clerk of the session ; in another is given the date of his removal from the city, if he has removed; in another, date of death, if dead-that is, the date is given if it has been possible to as- certain it; in another, if living, such fact is so indicated under the heading, "Remarks." Where an elder has come up from the diaconate, it is so stated, and the length of service such office-bearer rendered as deacon is given, and then it is embraced in his record of total service.
In this table the elders are graded according to the length of service rendered, and not alphabetically as to name or date of commission. Thus those serving the great- est number of years are given first place, and so on down the line to those who have served the shortest length of time.
The second table is similarly arranged in regard to the deacons which the church has had through the century, and along the lines above indicated, and is also self-explana- tory.
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TABLE NO. 1. Ruling Elders.
The Names and Length of Service in Years of Those Who Have Served as Ruling Elder in the First Pres- byterian Church of Nashville, Between 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as
When as
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
Remarks.
Robert G. Throne
17
11
6
1873-1914
1867-1873 1900-1914*
Living
Bradford Nichol, Sr.
47
1
46
1913-1914
1867-1913
1913
James Nichol
1 1
1834-1878
1833+
1878
William C. Collier
44
1
43
1913-1914
1870-1913
Living
Wilbur F. Foster
41
18
23
1896-1914
: 573-1896 1900-1914*
Living
Henry Sperry
41
1
40
1913-1914
873-1913
1895-1914* 1876-1914
Living
Byrd Douglas
38
12
26
1899-1911
873-1899|1873-18991
1911.
Robert H. Mefewen
38
38
1829-1867
18331
1829-1864
1868
Joseph H. Thompson
33
18
15
1896-1914
881-1896
Living
Joseph B. O'Bryan
33
30
3
1870-1900
:867-1870 1895-1900*
1900
H. Hill MeAlister
31
244
7
1867-1891
800-1867 1866-1891+
1891
A. . W. Putnam
30
30
1839-1869
1867-1869
1869
Adam G. Adams
28
28
1867-1895
1870-1895*
1895
James M. Hamilton
28
28
1867-1895
1870-1895*
1895
A. Gillespie Adams
28
18
10
1896-1914
886-1896
Living
Paul F. Eve, Jr., M.D.
28
22
6
1892-1914
Living
Nathan A. McNairy, M.D.
27
27
1824-1851
1833±
1851
James M. Safford, Ph.D.
26
26
1875-1901
1892-1900*
1901
John C. Gordon
25
1873-1898
Daniel F. Carter
24
14
10
1860-1874
850-1860 1852-18741
1874
John M. Hill
23
13
10
1844-1857
1:834-1844
W. H. Raymond
22
22
1892-1914
Chas. B. Glenn
22
22
1892-1914
Living
Nathaniel Cross
18
18
(1844-1858
1852+
1864-1866 1858 1866
1862-1866)
W. Gale Adams
18
18
1896-1914 4
-
Living
*Trustee of John M. Hill Fund.
+Church Realty. #Sale of pews in 1833.
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Living
Robert S. Cowan
41
1873-1914
41
Elder
Deacon
Elder
1898
Dead Living
-
REV. THOMAS VERNER MOORE, D.D., Pastor 1868-1871.
TABLE NO. 1-Ruling Elders-Continued.
The Names and Length of Service in Years of Those Who Have Served as Ruling Elder in the First Pres- byterian Church of Nashville, Between 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as
Deacon
When as
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
John D. Blanton, LL. D. W. T. Abernathy .
18
18
1896-1914
Living
18
10
8
1904-1914
11896-1904
1914
Frank Boenisch, Sr.
18
10
8
1904-1914
1896-1904
Living Living
William Williams
17
17
1844-1861
1861 1862
Paul N. Eve, Sr., M.D.
16
16
( 1860-1869
1869 1877 1839 1852
James C. Robinson
15
15
1899-1914
Living
Matt G. Buckner, M.D.
15
10
1904-1914
1899-1904
Living
Duncan Mckay
15
10
1904-1914
1899-1904
Living
William Bailey, M.D.
15
10
5
1904-1914
1899-1904
Living
Alexander A. Cassidy
15
5
10
1844-1849
834-1844
11849
Dead
Michael D. Dunn
14
14
( 1821-1828
1828 1853
William S, Eakin
14
12
2
1860-1872
1860
Dead
William Bryce Thompson
14
9
5
1867-1876
|1869-1876 1876 1882 Entered min
W. O. Estin
12
12
1892-1904
1904
Living
John R. Buist
11
11
1872-1884
W. B. A. Ramsey
10
10
1848-1858
18521
1858
Dead
Robert Smiley
9
9
1814-1823
18231
1823
Samuel Seay
9
1834-1843
1843 1864
James Anderson
9
9
1852-1861
11861
Baxter Smith
9
1881-1890
1886-1896+
1910
J. Douglas Cross
9
3
1873-1876 1867-1873
1876
[Living Dead
18
15
3
1399-1914
1896-1899
Clarence B. Wallace
1870-1877) 1824-1839
1833ţ
James D. Punket, M.D.
15
15
1846-1853)
858-1860 860-1865
istry
Dead
..
*John M. Hill Fund. 1Church Realty. #Sale of pews in 1833.
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.
Elder
Remarks.
Elder
TABLE NO. 1-Ruling Elders-Continued.
The Names and Length of Service in Years of Those Who Have Served as Ruling Elder in the First Pres- byterian Church of Nashville, Between 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as Deacon
When as Elder
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
Remarks.
Wm. McNeil, M.D.
1836-1844
1844
E. P. Bronson
D
3
1899-1904
1896-1899
1904
John Thompson
7
1853-1860
1800
Dead
Win. O'N. Perkins
6
6
1858-1864
1864
Dead
E. B. McClanahan
6
6
1867-1873
1873
Dead
Wm. Henry Smith
6
3
3
1870-1873
1867-1870
1873
6
3
3
1870-1873 1867-1870
1873
Dead
Richard O. Currey, M.D.
5
5
(1846-1847
1854 1865
James N. Sinclair
1
4
1875-1879
1879
James Trimble
3
1821-1824
1824
Wm. B. Shapard
3
1867-1870
1870
Wm. Hadley
3
1839-1842
1842
Wm. Armstrong
2
1834-1836
1858
Henry E. Thomas
2
2
1860-1862
1862
Dead
Joseph Jones, M.D.
2
1867-1869
1869
Dead
Henry C. Shapard
2
2
1875 1877
11877
Dead
A. M. Perine .
1
1
1873-1874
1874
Dead
Wm. M. Brown
1
1
1838-1839
1839
C. N. Ordway
1
1
1867-1868
1869
Geo. W. Killebrew
1
1
1913-1914
Living
Benjamin McCulloch
6
6
1838-1844
Chas. A. R. Thompson
1850-1854)
1840-1842
1842
Donald Cameron
Elder
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TABLE NO. 2. Deacons. The Names and Length of Service of Those Who Have Served Only as Deacons in the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Between 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as Deacon
When as
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
Remarks.
G. M. D. Cantrell
36
36
1850-1886]
John Hill Eakin
31
31
11873-1904 1896-19041
1904
William K: Hunter
31
31
1850-1881
1881
James P. Clark
29
29
1831-1863
1863
Henry A. Myers
28
28
1886-1914
Living
Frank Porterfield
24
44
1870-1894 1871-1896+
Dead
Robert Lusk, Sr.
23
23
1865-1888 1866-18731
1888
J. MeGavock Dickinson
16
16
1876-1892
1892
Living
James Gould
16
16
1850-1866
1866
John H. MeEwen, Jr.
15
15
1899-1914
Living
Edgar M. Foster
15
15
1899-1914
¡Living
A. Hume Lusk
15
15
11873-1888
Dead
Benjamin H. Shepherd
14
14
1844-1859
1859
S. V. D. Stout
14
14
1836-1850 1833៛
1853
T. Garland Tinsley
13
13
1901-1914
Living
E. W. Foster .
13
13
1901-1914
Living
John B. Garrett
13
13
1901-1914
Living
Chauncey C. Foster
13
13
1901-1914
Living
William M. Magill
13
13
1886-1899
1899
Thomas H. Maney
12
12
1873-18851
1878
W. D. Witherspoon
12
12
1899-1911
1911
Robert T. Hopkins
10
10
1904-1914
Living
George M. White
10
10
1904-1914
Living
John P. W. Brown
10
10
1904-1914
Living
Thomas F. Kennedy
10
10
1904-1914
Living
Charles S. Caldwell
10
10
|1904-1914}
Living
¡Church Realty.
#Sale of pews in 1833.
1
1850-1873 1866-18731
1873
Andrew J. Smith
23
Elder
Elder
Table No. 2-Deacons-Continued.
The Names and Length of Service of Those Who Have Served Only as Deacons in the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Between 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as Deacon
When as Elder
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
Remarks.
Jno. A. Witherspoon, M.D ..
10
10
1904-1914
Living
A. G. Goodlett, M.D.
9
L836-1845
1845 1850
Alfred Hume
9
1844-1853
1853
Robert Rodes
9
1886-1895
1895
D. R. Stubblefield, D.D.S.
9
1904-1913
1913
William Stewart ..
8
1854-1802
1862
Jno. Thompson Plunket ..
8
1873-1881
1912 Ordained min- istry 1881
John C. Kennedy
8
1901-1909
1909
William Eakin
1844-1849
1849
John I. Armstrong
5
1899-1904
Entered min- istry
William D. Kline
4
1870-1874
1874
L. T. Webb .
4
1876-1880
Edgar Jones
3
1870-1873 1871-1873*
1873
George G. O'Bryan
3
1870-1873 1871-1873+
1873
James H. Wilkes .
3
1876-1899
Charles E. Cooper
3
1911-1914
Living
Lee Douglas
3
1911-1914
Living
Verner Moore Lewis
3
1911-1914
Living
Wmn. Winter Lyon
3
1911-1914
Living
W.m. H. Berryhill
2
1834-1836
H. Davidson Cross
2
1861-1863
IL Bruce Cockran
2
1876-1878
J. D. Jacobs
1
1899-1900
1900
MePheeters Glasgow, M.D.
1913-1914
IAving
1
..
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#Church Realty.
9 9 9 8 8 8 2 1 HOHENSONOCOCOCOCO COCOCOCO IDA 010100 000000000 3 1
Living Dead Dead
1911-1914
Living
A. Tillman Jones
1836 1863 1878
Elder
Table No. 2-Deacons-Continued. The Names and Length of Service of Those Who Have Served Only as Deacons in the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Between: 1814 and 1914, Inclusive.
NAME
Total
Service
Served as
Served as
Deacon
When as Elder
When as
Deacon
When as
Trustee
When as
Clerk of Session
Removed
Death
Lemuel R. Campbell
1
1
1913-1914
Living
William Simpson
L
1
1913-1914
D. A. Ruddiman, Ph.C.
1
1
1913-1914
WV. Ridley Wills
1
1
1913-1914
J. C. Lucus
1.
1
1913-19141
Living
Frank Boensch, Jr.
1
1913-1914|
Living
Jacob W. Brown
1
1
1911-1912}
1912
Living
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.
Living
Living
Living
Remarks.
Elder
You will find in Table No. I that from its organiza- tion to this time the church had been served by seventy- one ruling elders, forty-five of whom were chosen direct from the membership, while the remaining twenty-six were raised from the diaconate. These ruling elders, together, have given the congregation a grand total of twelve hun- dred and twenty-five years of service, or an average of seventeen years plus per individual.
From Table No. 2 you will see that fifty-nine individuals have served the church only as deacons through the same period, which gives a grand total of five hundred and ninety- six years of service they have rendered, or an average of ten years plus for each person.
There have been seven elders who have served 40 years and over to 50; six elders who have served 30 years and over to 40; eleven elders who have served 20 years and over to 30; twenty elders who have served 10 years and over to 20; twenty-seven elders who have served I year and over to IO.
There have been three deacons who have served 30 years and over to 40; five deacons who have served 20 years and over to 30; twenty deacons who have served 10 years and over to 20; thirty-one deacons who have served I year and over to IO.
There have been twenty elders and five deacons who have served over twenty-five years each. Of this number ten elders are now living, but only one deacon.
From the eldership two have heard the call to minister in spiritual things, and at the proper time were duly or- dained ministers in the Presbyterian Church. Richard Owen Currey, educator, chemist, State geologist, physician, Confederate surgeon and editor, was ordained in 1857. So far as we have been able to ascertain he never became the pastor of any particular church, but frequently preached at irregular times and at different places. He died in his forty-ninth year, at Salisbury, N. C., on February 17, 1865.
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William Bryce Thompson, an educator, was ordained by Nashville Presbytery at its fall meeting on October 17, 1875. For a time he had charge of four country churches near Nashville, preaching at one of them each Sunday of the month. Afterwards he became pastor of Harpeth Presbyte- rian Church, in Williamson County, and Shiloh Presbyterian Church, in Sumner County. While pastor of these churches he would return and preach on Sunday nights at the Cottage Presyterian Church, in Nashville He was later called to two churches, one at Decherd, Tenn., and the Rev. J. Thompson Plunket, D.D. Deacon 1873-1881. other at Wartrace, Tenn. His health failing here, his physician sent him to Mobile, Alabama, for recuperation, but he grew worse and finally died there on April 23, 1882. He had served the First Presbyterian Church nine years as elder and five as deacon-a total of fourteen years; he · was also Stated Clerk of the session continuously for seven years and Superintendent of the Sunday school for seven years from 1860 to 1867.
Two from the diaconate have also become ministers in the church. John Thompson Plunket, after serving the church for eight years as deacon and fin- ishing the prescribed course in the The- ological Seminary, Columbia, S. C., was ordained a minister by the Nashville Pres- Rev. John Irvine Armstrong. Deacon 1899-1904. bytery on May 15, 1881. He at once became the pastor of the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, Steele Creek, N. C., where he remained for more than two years. In Septem- ber, 1882, he was called to the Madison Avenue Church, Cov- ington, Ky., remaining there during the six succeeding
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years. Then of Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, Detroit, Mich., he was pastor two years. The winters there proving too severe for him, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Ga., where he continued for nineteen years and over, when he became pastor of the Highland Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Ala. Here he remained for three and a half years. After delivering a sermon in that church on Sunday morning, November 10, 1912, from the text, "And we all do fade as a leaf" (Isaiah 64:6), he hurried home, two blocks away, and, as he entered his front hall he fell to rise no more; "for he was not, as God took him"-at the age of 58. He was made Moderator of the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church at its meeting held in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1905.
John Irvine Armstrong, educator and editor. He served the church as deacon for five years, when he as minister was ordained in October, 1906, and soon afterward became pastor of Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, near Atlanta, Ga., continuing there for seven years.
While, as a body of church officers, they easily compare favorably with similar bodies elsewhere, and, indeed, aver- age much above men as one meets men every day, yet the tendency of human nature to commit sin is proverbial, and, therefore, they claim in this respect to be no exception. The record for the century supplies only two glaring in- stances of flagrant sin occurring among the office-bearers of the church. The one in the case of an elder, the other of a deacon. The session suspended both of them from all official duties and as members of the church, also.
COLONIES FORMED.
The first twenty-five years of the life of the First Pres- byterian Church was largely consumed in making its own foundations solid and in studying the details of its own development and growth; the last seventy-five years of its century of existence, particularly the period between 1840-
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REV. HENRY J. VAN DYKE, D.D., Pastor 1872.
1900, was one of expansion-the establishing of other Pres- byterian churches in and near Nashville. During this period there have been sent out from this church no less than nine different colonies for this purpose, and virtually every time such a colony has gone forth one or more ruling elders of the church have been its leaders. Usually, as a forerunner, a Sunday school was organized in the locality, as was done in 1840, by A. G. Adams, J. M. Hamilton, Charles A. R. Thompson and others, in what was then known as "Haynes' Warehouse," located on North Market Street below the Public Square. This effort proved so successful that at the end of nearly three years, in 1843, there was formed in the First Church a colony under the leadership of Ruling Elder Samuel Seay, with the assistance of A. G. Adams, James M. Hamilton, Charles A. R. Thompson, Alpha Kings- ley and others, to go into that section of the town and organize what was called "the Second Presbyterian Church." This proved to be a most happy venture, as the church pros- pered in a high degree through the following twenty years. Then its prosperity was interrupted by the desolating and distracting Civil War, whose pall hung heavy over the en- tire country, demoralizing the affairs of the church no less than those of the State. On May 4, 1867, the leading spirits among the officers and members of the Second Church who had sympathized with the Confederates in the war, recently ended, petitioned the session to be allowed to return to the mother church, setting forth their reasons for so acting in a written paper from which we extract the following: "That the Second Presbyterian Church of Nashville was taken possession of by a minority of the ruling elders (two out of six being Federal sympathizers) under United States military authority in 1862, and it had ever since been held and used by said minority." It is not necessary to say that they were most cordially welcomed back home. In 1902 the property of the Second Presby-
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10
terian Church was sold and the officers moved the organi- zation to North Nashville, where, on the corner of Monroe Street and Ninth Avenue, they erected a modern brick edifice, in which services are now regularly held. When the Second Church determined to make this move the Edgar Church, not far from the new location of the Second Church, decided to join with that congregation. The two congregations were, therefore, merged.
In 1854, Ruling Elder A. W. Putnam, assisted by Dea- cons William K Hunter and Alfred Hume, established and maintained for a number of years a mission Sunday school near the southern terminus of Bass Street, on Stevenson Street, in Southwest Nashville The social conditions occa- sioned by the Civil War rendered it necessary to suspend the Sunday school during the period of conflict, but in the summer of 1865, the war then being ended, it was reestab- lished in almost the same locality it had before occupied. The average attendance was nearly seventy-five. In 1891 a colony from the First Church was formed, with Ruling Elder H. Hill McAlister as leader, assisted by Deacons Bradford Nichol, Sr., Byrd Douglas, William C. Collier and others as teachers in the Sunday school and otherwise. Fifty-six members signed a petition to the session asking to be dismissed from the First Church to thus go and or- ganize regularly what was called "the Cottage Presbyterian Church." Through the twenty-three years since elapsing this church has had seasons of great discouragement, but the present outlook is bright-the congregation now wor- shiping in a comfortable brick church building, being free from debt and owning a nice manse next door to the church.
The Bench of Elders, being fully conscious of the loss the First Church would sustain in the leaving of Ruling Elder McAlister, by resolution gave expression of their loss, stating that he had been an officer in the First Church for more than thirty years, during which time he had "uni-
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formly reflected a consistency, fidelity, self-sacrificing zeal for God, and a cordial fraternity of spirit toward every member of this session." It may be truly said that his life abounded in good words and works.
On May 7, 1858, another colony was formed in the First Church, and in this instance the leaders were Ruling Elders W. B. A. Ramsey and Nathaniel Cross, who set forth in their petition to the session for dismissal "that in their opinion the interests of religion in general and Presbyterianism in particular would be greatly promoted by the establishment of a Presbyterian Church in Edge- field." They went forth charged with the realization of this opinion. Unexpected discouragements, however, soon began to beset their pathway. Within a few months after arriving in their chosen field they lost by death their most enthusiastic leader, W. B. A. Ramsey, and many minor difficulties arose and speedily took definite form; but what proved to be the most serious, at least for a time, was the fact that there began an era of a deep-rooted, far-reaching, bitter political excitement over the entire country, which three years later culminated in a fierce, unparalleled Civil War, lasting from 1861 to 1865. The young men entered the army, incomes were greatly cut down or wholly swept away, society faced a condition close to chaos, and for the greater part of this period Nashville was but a military camp, and that, too, in the hands of the enemy's troops. A prominent member of the church, writing just after the close of the war, says: "So uncertain is the condition of our church, dispersed as it has been for the past two years, and so reduced in circumstances are our members, that we would now hesitate about assuming any kind of obligation." How- ever, with a faith and energy born of desperation, as it were, the congregation, as he further states, "considering it to be our duty," resolved "to go forward, trusting to the Great Head of the church to bless us and crown our efforts with
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success." As a consequence they today occupy a spacious, handsomely designed, splendid brick edifice, having all mod- ern improvements, located on the south side of Woodland Street, near Sixth Street, and are entirely free from debt.
In February, 1869, Ruling Elder Jos. B. O'Bryan or- ganized and became Superintendent of a mission Sunday school in the district school building located near the plant of the Tennessee Manufacturing Company, in North Nash- ville. R. S. Cowan was later made Assistant Superintendent of the Sunday school. From the beginning the attendance was large, averaging from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five. It was not long until there was a definite demand that preaching services also be provided for, so Rev. A. H. Price was employed to preach here on each Sunday and to canvass and visit the contiguous territory through the week. Through voluntary subscrip- tions a building suitable for chapel services as well was erected in 1871, two years after the organization of the church, and in the succeeding years many were received into the church. On Sunday afternoon, May 30, 1886, a more complete church organization was effected and the name "the Edgar Presbyterian Church" adopted. On May 28, two days before this, there had been presented to the First Church session a petition, bearing the signatures of one hundred and eighty-three members, asking dismissal to this new church. This church had a distinct clientele and accomplished a distinctive work in the social and religious life of the mill employes of its locality. As before stated, the Edgar Presbyterian Church was merged with the Second Presbyterian Church in April, 1902, when that organization moved from North College Street (Third Avenue, North) to its present site.
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