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The memorable schism between the Synods of New York and Philadelphia occurred in 1741; Abington sided with New York. It was not until 1758 that the Synods were reunited. Seven years previously the Presbytery of Abington had, for convenience' sake been constituted, but this was merged in the Philadelphia Presbytery on the union. An interregnum of three years followed Mr. Treat's decease, various ministers officiating. In 1781 Rev. William Mackay Tennent , D.D., was chosen pastor and installed. Before coming to Abington Dr. Tennent had been settled at Greenfield, Conn., where he was succeeded by Dr. Dwight, afterwards President of Yale College. While here he gave part of his time to the congregations of Norriton and Providence. In 1797 Dr. Tennent was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly. For years he wa a member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton College. During his ministry a new stone church was built on the west side of the turnpike. This building was first occupied in 1793. Five years subsequently Isaac Boileau conveyed to the corporation the parsonage farm of one hundred acres. Dr,. Tennent was called home December 2nd, 1810, after a painful but patiently endured illness; he rests in the old graveyard, near to his uncle, Gilbert Tennent , and close, also to President Finley , of Princeton College. After an interval of two years Rev. Wm. Dunlap, a son of the President of Jefferson College, was called to Abington; he had begun his ministerial career as a missionary in Canada, and was installed at Abington July 22d, 1812. His service was brief. Six years after his installation, he was summoned to go up higher. He died in his thirty-sixth year. For about twelve months Presbytery supplied the pulpit. On September 9th, 1819, Rev. Robert Steel was called to the pastorate. He had pursued his studies with Dr. Wylie, of Philadelphia; subsequently going to Nassau Hall, where he was graduated in 1813. His theological course was pursued under the supervision of Dr. Mason. At first Mr. Steel engaged in city missionary work in New York and Philadelphia, but at Abington he found his first and last regular charge. At a congregational meeting held March 12, 1833, it was decided to enlarge and entirely remodel the church edifice. This was subsequently done. In 1856 the parsonage farm was sold, with the exception of two acres, which are yet retained.
Their present house of worship [1888] and the first one built by the congregation, was erected in 1841.
* It appears that for a time after the formal organization, the church was supplied by Mr. John Shoap. * Rev. Gara Bishop began preaching to them as a stated supply in 1835, and for eleven years preached to them more or less of his time. * Rev. Alexander Boyd was stated supply for about three years, commencing with October, 1846. * The Rev. John Wray, a returned missionary from India, began his labors in the congregation in 1850, and for twenty-one years was the honored and efficient and successful pastor. Becoming entirely blind, he was compelled, much against his own will and to the great reluctance of a loving people, to ask for the dissolution of the pastoral relation, which was granted by Presbytery April 26, 1871. The remainder of his days was spent in the bounds of the congregation to which he had devoted so great a part of his life, and in which he continued to manifest the greatest interest, and by which he was remembered with many tokens of kindness and esteem to the day of his death. He died at his home in Brockwayville August 16, 1883, aged 89. * The next pastor was Rev. W.H. Filson, for half of his time from May, 1871, to April, 1875, and for all his time after that date until release, in May, 1883. * His successor and the present pastor is Rev. R.A. Hunter, who was ordained and installed in June, 1884, and it is hoped his will be one of the longest pastorates in a church where he has been so heartily received.
History of Jefferson County Pennsylvania Edited by Kate M. Scott 1888 Syracuse NY D. Mason & Company
This church, that first I presume in the county, was constructed of logs, small and closely notched together, and was seated with slabs and blocks of wood, resting upon a genuine earthen floor. There was no provision mad for heating, and the only pulpit was a board placed upon two posts. All traces of this primitive church have disappeared, but the old graveyard can still be seen [1888] as you pass along the pike. The number of members at the time of the organization is unknown, but the subsequent year the church is reported as having a membership of sixty-eight.
The first regular preaching that Bethel Church enjoyed was under the Rev. William Kennedy, who as stated supply from October, 1825, to April, 1827, for one-half of his time, the other half being given to the now extinct church of Redbank, located somewhere between Millville and New Bethlehem.
When Brookville was incorporated in 1830, the place of worship of the Bethel Church was removed from the log cabin church to the second story of the jail, and there is no evidence of the old log cabin being used as a place of worship after that time. In 1832 the first court-house was built, and this became the place of worship till 1842, when the first Presbyterian Church of the place was completed and dedicated. That building was superseded by the more modern and commodious structure which was dedicated January 16, 1870, and the first cost of which was about $11,000. An addition has since been made to the building in the shape of a gallery back of the pulpit in which has been built a large and elegant pipe organ.
May 13, 1842, the church was incorporated and the name changed from Bethel to Brookville. Almost one thousand members have been connected with it since its organization, and the report for 1886 shows a present membership of two hundred and forty-four. It has an excellent Sabbath-school, a prayer-meeting, and three good missionary societies and has done a grand work for Christianity.
The pastors and stated supplies of this church have been as follows, viz.: * Mr. John Shoap, stated supply for half time from October, 1834, to the time of his death in March, 1835. On account of his failing health he was never ordained and installed. * Rev. Gara Bishop, M.D., stated supply a good part of the time from June, 1835, until the early part of 1840. * Rev. David Polk, stated supply for half time from June, 1840, to April 1841, and from the latter date pastor until December, 1845. * Rev. C.P. Cummins, M.D., pastor for half time from June 15, 1847, to August 5, 1856. On this last date he was released and in just ten days from this date he was recalled, and on September 26 was reinstalled. The final dissolution of the relation took place June 10, 1862. Dr. Cummins's pastorate of fifteen years is the longest in the history of the church, and under his ministrations it grew to be self-supporting, his successors giving their whole time to the church. * Rev. S.H. Holliday, pastor from June 16, 1863, to February 11, 1868. * Rev. J.J. Marks, stated supply from August, 1868, to April, 1872, and from the latter date pastor until December of the same year. * Rev. A.B. Fields, pastor from May, 1874, to April, 1880, having preached to the church one year regularly before being called and installed as pastor. * Rev. T.J. Sherrard, pastor from November, 1880, to March, 1883. * Rev. J.H. Stewart, pastor from June, 1883, to September, 1886. * Rev. S.J. Glass took charge of the congregation April 1, 1887, preaching his first sermon as pastor April 4.
From History of Jefferson County Pennsylvania Edited by Kate M. Scott 1888 Syracuse NY D. Mason & Company
The Rev. Robert Evans , Church missionary, ministered to the congregation during its early years. He died in Virginia, in 1727. Rev. William Bertram was the first regular minister. [At first splitting his time between Paxton and Derry.] His remains lie in the graveyard, near the southwest corner. He died May 2d, 1746. His successor, Rev. John Roan , is buried nearby, dying in October, 1775. [He split his time between Derry, Paxton and Mount Joy.] Many ministers have preached at Derry, among whom were the Rev. David Brainerd , Rev. Charles Beatty , and that galaxy of early missionaries, Anderson, Evans, McMillan, Duffield, Gray, the Tennents, Carmichael, etc. At present no services are held in Derry Church.
[Note, the biography of Rev. John Elder , says that he was the minister of Paxton and Derry Churches between 1738 and 1792.] See, also, Record of Graves at the Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, Dauphin (formerly Lancaster) Co., Pennsylvania , part of the US GenWeb archives.
The first meeting house was erected with logs, and stood a few yards south of the present structure (1884). After it had been used for a dozen years, the present edifice was erected. Loose stones were collected from the surface of the ground in the surrounding woods, with which the walls were built. There was no effort made by the masons to dress the stone; they were simply laid in mortar, to a line. The edges were craggy and rough. And there were no stone in the building that one man could not conveniently handle. The walls were plastered on the inside, but the outside was left in its rough state until the remodeling of the house in 1850.
The front of the building was the south side, facing the graveyard, with a double doorway, the only entrance into the house. The door frame and windows had a circular head. The pulpit stood against the northern side and immediately opposite the doorway. A broad aisle led from the door to another one running lengthwise of the building in front of the pulpit. Upon each side of the pulpit and facing it, were nine pews. Upon each side of the aisle running from the entrance door were seven pews.
There was also a small aisle near each end of the room, which ran at right angles to the main aisle, from which entrance was had to corresponding seven pews already mentioned. These pews faced the pulpit. There were four pews facing this small aisle, and between it and the end walls. For some years after the church was built, the floors of the aisles were composed of earth; no stoves were admitted; an innovation of that kind was considered incompatible with the worship of a true Christian; gradually, however, two large stoves, cast at Cornwall, were introduced, and the aisle paved with brick. The seats and backs of the pews were made of yellow pine and oak. The backs came to the neck of an ordinary person, and were perpendicular. At the corners of the pews were corner boards rounded out to fit the backs, an d which really made it more uncomfortable to sit.
Two or three rows of pews in front of the pulpit had inclined shelves, upon which the hymn-books were placed. Of course, there was no paint upon any of the wood-work. Thus the building stood when it was remodeled.
The Rev. David Evans supplied the Donegal Church in 1720, and the Rev. George Gillespie and the Rev. Robert Cross were among the supplies in 1721 and probably for the year 1722 also. In the Fall of 1723 the Rev. Messrs. Alexander , Hutcheson, and Daniel McGill were sent by New Castle Presbytery. In 1725 the Rev. Adam Boyd of Octorara gave Donegal the one-sixth of his time. On the 24th day of September, 1726, the Rev. James Anderson was called to the pastorate of the church, and on the last Wednesday in August, 1727, he was installed. He died July 16th, 1740. Rev. Hamilton Bell had charge of the church from 1742 until the fall of 1743. The pulpit was supplied by Presbytery until November 23d, 1748, when the Rev. Joseph Tate was installed as pastor, in which relation he continued until his death, October 11th, 1774, a period of twenty-six years.
The history of the church during the colonial period was an eventful one, and particularly during the French and Indian War of 1755-8, and the subsequent Indian wars. Many members of the congregation were driven from their homes on the Conoy and Conawago creeks, by the Indians. But there were also many members who shouldered their guns and marched to the frontier settlements to aid in terminating the Indian incursions, depredations and massacres.
Early in the Spring of 1776 the Rev. Collin McFarquahr took charge of the church at Donegal. He came to this country from Scotland, to seek a home and settlement, and left his family behind him, expecting to send for them as soon as he was settled, but on account of the interruption of travel occasioned by the prevailing war, he did not see them for ten years thereafter. Mr. McFarquahr continued to be the diligent and faithful pastor of Donegal until 1805, when his wife having died, he was bowed down with sorrow, and concluded to resign the charge and live with his daughters, Mrs. Wilson, in Lancaster, and Mrs. Cook, in Hagerstown, where he died, August 27th, 1822, aged ninety-three years.
After the resignation of Mr. McFarquahr, Donegal Church was supplied occasionally, in 1806, by the Rev. Nathanael R. Snowden , then settled in Lancaster, and served by Rev. Robert Cathcart , of York, as a stated supply. The Rev. William Kerr succeeded Mr. McFarquahr as pastor. Mr. K. also preached in Marietta, where he died in 1821. He was succeeded in the pastorate of Donegal by the Rev. Orson Douglass, the Rev. Thomas Marshall Boggs, the Rev. James L. Rodgers, the Rev. John J. Lane, the Rev. John Edgar, and the Rev. William Blays Brown, who took charge of the church in 1871.
The following ministers have served the church: * Rev. David Polk, stated supply the first two years after the organization; * Rev. William Kennedy, stated supply from 1844 to the time of his death, November, 1850; * Rev. David Polk, stated supply, a second time, from 1852 to 1856; * Rev. William McMichael, stated supply in 1858 and 1859. * Rev. Thomas S. Leason, was installed October 8, 1860.
History of Jefferson County Pennsylvania Edited by Kate M. Scott 1888 Syracuse NY D. Mason & Company
The pastors of this church have been as follows: Rev. Jedediah Andrews, 1698 to 1747; the Rev. Samuel Hemphill was elected as an assistant or colleague of Mr. Andrews in 1735, but served in this capacity only a short time. In 1739 the congregation called the Rev. Robert Cross as colleague pastor with Mr. Andrews. Upon the death of Mr. Andrews, in 1747, Mr. Cross continued the pastoral office until June 22d, 1758, when he resigned. During his pastorate the Rev. Francis Alison, D.D. , was employed in 1752, as assistant to Mr. Cross, and subsequently as colleague with Dr. Ewing, until his death. Rev. John Ewing, D.D. , was pastor from 1759 to September 8th, 1802. In 1801 the congregation called the Rev. John Blair Linn, D.D. , as colleague, and on the death of Mr. Ewing, in 1802, he became sole pastor of the church until his death, August 30th, 1804. Rev. James Patriot Wilson, D.D. , was pastor May, 1806, to the Spring of 1830. The Rev. Albert Barnes was installed pastor, June 25th, 1830, and filled the pulpit until 1867, when he resigned and was appointed Pastor Emeritus, which position he retained until his death, in 1870. Rev. Herrick Johnson, D.D., LL.D., was pastor from 1868 to 1874, when the present incumbent, the Rev. Lawrence M. Colfelt, was installed as pastor of the congregation.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States met in this edifice in 1863, and the first meeting of the Genral Assembly after the "Reunion" was held here, in May, 1870.
The location of this church is "down town," the population for many years having steadily moved to other sections of the city, but notwithstanding the drain upon it, it is still, numerically, one of the strongest of the Denomination in Philadelphia.
Six of the thirteen men, viz.: William Corbet, William Douglass, Samuel Lucas, Samuel Davison, James Hindman, and John M. Fleming, were elected and there and then ordained and installed ruling elders. A committee was appointed, vested with full power to select a site, purchase from five to ten acres of land on either side of the Olean road, and receive the deed in trust for said congregation. At the next meeting the committee reported that they had purchased ten acres of land for the sum of fifteen dollars, being less by one dollar per acre than the selling price, which donation of ten dollars Mr. White had given to the congregation, and that they had received the deed in trust. Mr. Philip Corbet's barn was the place of meeting for worship that summer.
The first house of worship was finished in 1841, at a cost of $1,000, and was a five-sided building, located just south of the present structure [1888], the pulpit being one of those old, elevated box affairs, and situated in the V formed by the two western sides of the edifice. That structure gave way to the present large building, which was dedicated at a meeting of Presbytery in April, 1859. Its first cost was about $5,000.
* Pisgah was first regularly supplied by Mr. John Shoap, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Northumberland, who gave half time to Pisgah, in connection with Bethel, as a stated supply, in the winter of 1834 and 1835. * Rev. Gara Bishop, M.D., was stated supply for one-third time form May, 1835, to May, 1836. * For the next four years the church only had occasional supplies. * Rev. David Polk, alleged to have been a cousin of President James K. Polk, was the first regularly installed pastor that Pisgah ever had. His pastorate extended from December, 1840, for one-half of his time, to December, 1845. * Rev., C.P. Cummins, M.D., was pastor from June, 1847, for half of his time, the other half being given to Brookville, until September, 1862. He resigned once in that time, on August 5, 1856, but in ten days was recalled, and the next month was reinstalled. The work accomplished by this brother in his long pastorate in the charge where he was so greatly beloved, was without doubt a very great work, and the power for good that he has been to the church and to this county cannot be estimated. * Rev. J.S. Elder was pastor for one-half time from December, 1864, to February, 1868, the church of Greenville, in Clarion county, taking the other half of his time. * Rev. J.M. Hamilton was pastor from June, 1869, to April, 1871, his time being equally divided between Pisgah and Greenville. * Rev. Ross Stevenson, D.D., was pastor for two-thirds of his time, the one-third being given to the church of Troy, from November, 1871, to February, 1876. * Rev. Frank P. Britt, the present pastor for half time, was ordained an installed August 24, 1877, the other half of his time being divided between the churches of Greenville and New Rehoboth.
History of Jefferson County Pennsylvania Edited by Kate M. Scott 1888 Syracuse NY D. Mason & Company
The First Church gave first sign of life in applying to the Presbytery of Redstone for supplies, on the 14th of April, 1784. The Rev. Joseph Smith was appointed to preach, in August. No other notice of organization is made in the Presbyterial records. In October, 1785, the Rev. Samuel Barr , licentiate of Londonderry Presbytery, Ireland, appeared in the Presbytery of Redstone, having had his attention directed to Pittsburg as a field, by merchants who met him at the house of his father-in-law, at New Castle. There was not complete satisfaction on the part of Presbytery at first, but Mr. Barr's work began and went forward without formal installation. The Church of Pitts-township (now Beulah Church) united with the First Church in the call to Mr. Barr.
Where the Church at first worshiped no scrap even of tradition, remains to inform us. There had been a bent fixed toward a certain property, by the burial there of certain soldiers and officers, but it was not until December 4th, 1786, that a bill was introduced into the Assembly at Philadelphia, asking that, in a new laying out of things, lots should be set apart for "a church an d burying ground." "For what church?" was asked. "There is but one church there," answered Hugh Brackenridge, the representative, "all go to that." After some discussion, whether the words, "religious Christian society," or "religious society," or "Presbyterian congregation," should be inserted into the bill, the last phrase, through the influence of Mr. Findley, prevailed, and the bill, having passed over to September 21st, 1787, was passed in that shape, on the 29th of September of that year.
Before the Assembly had acted, and mainly through the influence of Mr. Barr, who had gone east to obtain money for building and a grant of land, the Penn heirs had deeded two and half lots of the ground already designated, for the nominal "consideration of five shillings, as well as of the laudable inclination they have for encouraging and promoting morality, piety and religion in general, and more especially in the town of Pittsburg." This deed was executed to eleven trustees, of whom six had been officers in the Revolutionary army. On this ground the Church proceeded to erect (some think had already begun to erect) their first house of worship -- a structure of "moderate dimensions and squared timber." Another lot was purchased, with foresight and private means, by Mr. Barr, and came into the hands of the trustees in 1802.
A history of the times asserts that the church was "not remarkable, early, for exemplary piety. Many of them were a gay, fashionably, worldly people, conforming to the customs and the manners of the times." ("Old Redstone," page 377.) Mr. Barr's ministry closed in 1789. From June, 1789, to November, 1792, there were only supplies, Mr. Robert Findley being the principal one. From November, 1792, to October, 1793, Mr. Samuel Mahon (licentiate of Carlisle Presbytery) preached and was called, but the Presbytery did not see its way clear to put the call in his hands. From October, 1793, to October, 1800, is almost a blank. There are no sessional records (as there are none, indeed until 1817), and the church does not appear in Presbytery in any form, except in April, 1795, to ask supplies, and then again in June, 1799. At this time, though there were great revivals in the surrounding country, the city was as the heath of the desert. The First Church was asleep in the midst of a harvest. A singular gleam of promise, long to be deferred in fulfillment, is found in Dr. Herron's preaching, in the old log church, in 1799, much to the annoyance of the swallows, which seemed to claim the neglected building.
The Rev. Robert Steele , from Ireland, became supply of the First Church in October, 1800. When fairly settled, in 1802, a few persons, dissatisfied with the spiritual food afforded them, petitioned for the formation of the Second Church, and the church organization, after some opposition, was granted, in 1804. In this year the First Church began and built (with some finishing work in 1805) a large house of worship, built of brick, over and around the log structure, which was itself used until the new one was almost completed, and then the venerable timbers were thrust out at the windows. There was growth by immigration at this period, but little otherwise. The tone of piety, if tradition is correct was but little improved, while the pecuniary embarrassment of the debt caused by the new house was so severely felt that in 1807, a lottery of first and second schemes, to raise $3000, was authorized, and pressed to actual drawing. It was however, unsuccessful, and the debt had to be subsequently otherwise provided for.
Testimony to the personal character, ability and earnestness of Mr. Steele is abundant, but the tide was too strong. At his death, March 22d, 1810, the church life seemed weak. The preaching of the Rev. Joseph Stockton, which followed, ad interim, for abut one year, was refreshing and strengthening. He is said to have refused the salary voted for his services, and in other services was greatly useful in the two cities.
The Rev. Francis Herron , pastor at Rocky Spring, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, since 1800, came to visit his relative, Dr. Brown , of Washington, Pennsylvania, and preached in the First Church, by request. Great interest was excited, and such a call followed him home as brought him back again in the Fall of 1811. Existing difficulties only stirred the noble and evangelical pastor to exertions. In three years the pecuniary difficulties were ended, and then came church enlargement, re-sale of pews, and building the Session-room, in 1814. The impetus of the Sabbath-school movement had already begun to be felt. Dr. Herron and the pious Joseph Patterson formed the Sabbath school Association of Pittsburg, in 1817. A special building for the promotion of this interest was erected in 1826. The Third Presbyterian Church formed in 1833, with the full consent and approval of the First, and some of the choicest material of the First entered the enterprise. The First Church, with alterations, of course, continued to grow and proper, until, in December, 1850, Dr. Herron felt the need of transferring the increasing burden to younger shoulders. He was succeeded by Dr. William M. Paxton, early in 1851 until 1865. The Rev. Sylvester F. Scovel became Dr. Paxton's successor, in December, 1865, and continued until July, 1883.
The First Church has, naturally and by reason of zeal, also been a place of beginnings, and wide influences have started there. It was the place of the first meeting of the Synod of Pittsburg, in 1802. The "Moral Association," about 1812, was formed there, for the city. The Sabbath School Association began there, in 1817. The first Temperance meetings were held there. The Western University was there inaugurated, in 1819. The Western Missionary Society was formed there, in 1802, by the Synod, and the Western Foreign Missionary Society had its beginnings there in 1831. The second, became the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The Western Theological Seminary had its beginnings here, likewise (1825-7), and its first classes recited here. The General Assembly met in the First Church at its first venture west of the mountains, in 1835; again met there in 1836, then in 1849, then in 1865; then gave it, with Third Church the hallowed associations of reunion, with its communion, in 1869, and met there again -- the first meeting in the new series of Assemblies which pay their own expenses, and thus may continue popular rather than select. And it was made the place of the first effective gathering of the precious memories of Western Presbyterianism by the Memorial Convention of 1875, with its admirable result and volume.
Many of the noblest citizens have been identified with its interests, temporal
or spiritual or both. Judge Addison, John Wilkins, James Ross, the Brackenridges,
the Craigs, James O'Hara, Harmar Denny, John Allen, William Plummer, and
others.
The meeting was in the woods. The home then belonged to Mr. Carnahan. The men stood with rifles in hand guarding against a surprise attack by the Indians. Dr. McMillan's first visit was in 1775. In November, 1776, Dr. Power removed his family from Chester County, Pa., to the western part of the province. They made this journey on horseback. For a few years he resided at Dunlap's Creek, where he served as a sort of "Missionary Pastor." He organized a number of churches, among which were Dunlap's Creek, Laurel Hill, Unity, Tyrone, Mt. Pleasant, Sewickley and Cross Creek. In the spring of 1779 he removed to Mt. Pleasant and became the regular pastor of that church and of Sewickley.
Dr. Power's pastorate at Mt. Pleasant lasted thirty-eight years. and Dr. McMillan's at Chartiers lasted fifty-five years (1778-1833). The first house of worship stood about one and one-half miles north of the present Sewickley Church, on the road leading from Markle's Mill towards Pittsburgh, about half way between the Big and Little Sewickleys (Ref. Old Redstone, p. 238).
There are no records stating when it was erected, nor how long it was used, but the records dated "Rehoboth 1786 April 18" show that the question of building another house was brought to the attention of the Presbytery. This first house was very primitive and constructed entirely with the ax. No saw, plane, or even hammer was used, for nails or iron in any shape were not employed. The side walls were logs and the roof was clapboards, kept in place by logs laid upon them. Doors were of the same kind, fastened together with wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges. The windows were small openings cut in the logs and glazed with paper or white linen, oiled with lard or bear's grease. The seats were split logs, raised on blocks or wooden pegs upon the earthen floor.
The congregation became divided concerning a new location for the church, and as an agreement was impossible, the Sewickley congregation was dissolved by the Presbytery and Dr. Power dismissed as their pastor, Aug. 21, 1787. The southern part of the congregation, and those on the north side of the creek who were of the same mind, proceeded to build the second Meeting House on the site of the present church, about 1788. Ground for this church and graveyard was secured from the Huey or Huoy farm.
Glass was put in the windows, and an elaborately carved walnut pulpit with canopy was installed. The seats were private property and built of split logs. Some had a bar as a support for the back, but Mr. Oliver Bovard scoffed at such effeminacy and sat erect in the strength of conscious uprightness.
Twenty years later the congregation voted to install stoves for heat. This was opposed by the virtuous minority as a device of the devil, and because these stoves smoked intolerably they saw "manifest token" of Divine displeasure. General Markle, Mr. Richey, David Hunter Richey and Mr. John Carothers had pews in this church.
In 1832 the United Presbyterians, under Dr. Mungo Dick, pioneer U.P. Missionary, located or took over the Old Sewickley Church, on the original site between the Sewickley Creeks, and erected a new brick building. In 1856 this was completely remodeled. The walls were papered, the floor carpeted and the yard fenced. After 1876 the building was again remodeled. This brick church has always been called the Dick United Presbyterian Church.
In this same year, 1832, the Sewickley Presbyterian church erected a stone building about a mile and a half away from the original site, on the south side of Sewickley Creek. This congregation dates from April 1772, when it is recorded in Minutes of Donegal Presbytery, "Applications in behalf of Ligonier, Sewickley, Jacobs Creek . . . Round Hill, etc. . . ." (Ref. Journal of Dept. of History of the Presbyterian Church, Vol. 16, #4, p. 151, Dec. 1934.)
It is thought that the Union Meeting House must have been used to designate
the Church between the Sewickleys from the time of the dissolution of the
pastoral relation between Mr. Power and the Sewickley congregation in 1787,
until the coming of Mungo Dick in 1832, and the gathering of the families
between the Sewickleys into a United Presbyterian congregation.
(From The Boyd Family by Scott Lee Boyd. 1935)
These churches were founded by the Rev. Thaddeus Dod , one of the four honored fathers of Western Presbyterianism, who, under the old Synod of New York and Philadelphia, organized the Presbytery of Redstone. Of some twenty families which came from his own Morris county, New Jersey, in 1773, four founded homes on the South fork of the Ten-Mile, near the present town of Jefferson. The remainder divided themselves along the North fork, into two settlements, under their respective leaders, Jacob Cook and Demas Lindley. These two settlement had their centers, respectively, where now the flourishing congregations of Lower and Upper Ten-Mile worship peacefully near the towns of Amity and Prosperity. Doubtless the first visit of Thaddeus Dod, in March, 1777, and his final settlement, in September, 1779, were prompted by earnest appeals from his old New Jersey friends, which owed much of their efficiency to his sympathy with them in their destitution of religious ordinances.
Indian hostilities had been stimulated by the French in their great constest with Great Britain and her colonies for the Ohio and its tributaries. And they continued to carry butchery and alarm into the homes among and beyond the Alleghenies, until Col. Bouquet's masterly second expedition, in 1763, pushed the bloody foes back to the Muskingum, and secured a treaty of peace, which gave ten years of comparative repose. Those years witnessed large streams of emigration westward. But Dunmore's war of 1774, the year following the arrival of the New Jersey settlers, filled the country once more with fear and sorrow. The inhabitants of this whole region were driven, for safety into forts east of the Monongahela. Happily the victory of General Lewis, at Point Pleasant, on the Ohio, brought that bloody strife to a close in the Autumn of the same year, without the aid of the arrogant and blustering Lord Governor Dunmore, so safely encamped at a convenient distance. But then, only two years later, came the terrific strife of the Revolution, when throughout its whole continuance the resources of the united colonies were taxed to their utmost along the seaboard, thus leaving the defenseless inhabitants of the interior to buffet as they could with their savage foes, urged on by British gold and promises
But it was in the Spring of 1777, the very time of Mr. Dod's first visit, that these Indian hostilities were organized along the whole river frontier, from Fort Pitt to the Kanbawha. In their light, the difficulty of removing a family and consequent delay of the pastoral settlement, are fully explained. It was one of the terrible features of that organized warfare that the famous Simon Girty, with his associates McKee and Elliott, all escaped Tories from Fort Pitt, signalized their zeal against the cause ofliberty by rushing into a relentless leadership of the treacherous and bloodthirsty forest warriors. Occasional feeble expeditions were sent forth by the Government, but mainly the terrified inhabitants had to build forts and defend themselves. A line of such forts, from Redstone, near Brownsville, along Ten Mile, Wheeling, and Grave Creek, to the Ohio, looked out southward upon an unbroken wilderness, and so made the inhabitants of these very hills a vanguard of defense for their more favored brethren in the thicker settlements behind them. A like line of defenses guarded the settlements on the west, along the Ohio, from the mouth of Grave Creek to Fort Pitt. Of course, the savages were cunning enough to cross the river below these lines of defense, and to make their most frequent and formidable incursions from the wilderness through this exposed southern frontier line,. And thus they continued to come, long after the homes and churches, only a few miles northward, had come into organized security. It was along this very line of continual peril that Dod and his devoted people through the whole period of the Revolutionary struggle, spent their Summers in Fort Lindley, only coming out at intervals, under guard, to till the soil for bread. But whether in Summer confinement or in the comparative freedom of Winter, they failed not to study God's word and teach it to their children, as well as to maintain public and private worship, though the trusty rifle was a sure an accompaniment of their religious assemblies as the Bible and the hymn book. And the seal of Providence was put upon their fidelity, in the signal fact that whilst others were slain around them, not one of their number came to a bloody death.
Here in my hand is the original record, in the handwriting of Mr. Dod himself, which recites the formal organization of the church, at the house of Mr. Cook, August 15th, 1781, including the reception of members--twenty-five in all--and the election of Demas Lindley, Jacob Cook, Joseph Coe and Daniel Axtell, as ruling elders. The reason for this delay of organization for two years after the settlement of Mr. Dod, is to be found in the same turbulence of the times of which we are speaking. Appended to this very record is an explanatory note viz: "After this we set several times when we should have the Lord's Supper administered, but could not compass our design, on account of the incursions of the savages." Nor need we wonder at this caution, when we read the opening entry upon the records of the Presbytery holding its first meeting one month after this church organization, as follows, viz: "The Presbytery met, according to the appointment of the Revd. Synod of New York and Philadelphia at Pigeon Creek, as the circumstances of some of the members, by reason of the incursions of the savages, rendered it impracticable for them to attend at Laurel Hill." The trouble was not at Laurel Hill but on this side of the Monongahela, making it inconvenient, if not hazardous to the members to go so far from home. Mr. Dod was present at that first meeting of the Presbytery, and preached the opening sermon, from Job xlii, 5,6. Mr. Smith was the only one of the four ministers absent. But as these occasions of peril passed away with the dying echoes of the war for Independence, the longed for communion season came at length, on the third Sabbath of May, 1783, about a year and a half after the church organization. The sacred Supper was served in Daniel Axtell's barn, when, besides the original company forty-five newborn disciples took upon themselves the vows of Christ. This large addition to the membership was the fruit of a powerful work of grace in the confinement of the fort.
That luxury of a church building was not enjoyed here until 1785, when
one was erected where the Amity Church now stands, followed with another at
Prosperity in 1792. Their ordinary schools were restricted in appliances
and could only furnish the most elementary instruction, though even then
classical education, with special reference to the ministry was not neglected,
of which Mr. Dod's academy opened on his own farm, in 1782, the first of
its kind in the West, is a sufficient illustration. The delay to secure
a house of worship for six years after the settlement of the pastor, and
for three years after the erection of the academy, doubtless had its chief
reason in the perils already detailed, which drove the people into forts
during the Summer. Few also were their books, beyond the Bible, the
Catechism and the volume of psalms and hymns, whilst an occasional stray
newspaper was hailed as a messenger from a far country.