Church: Part II - Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, Edifice Centennial Celebration, 1894: Letterkenney Twp, Franklin Co, PA
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HISTORY
of the
ROCKY SPRING CHURCH
and
ADDRESSES DELIVERED
at the
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
of the Present Church Edifice,
AUGUST 23, 1894.
_______________
COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY
REV. S. S. WYLIE AND A. NEVIN POMEROY.
_______________
CHAMBERSBURG, PA.:
FRANKLIN REPOSITORY PRESS:
1895
_______________
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION ROCKY SPRING
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
_________
HELD AT ROCKY SPRING, AUGUST 23, 1894.
_________
60 (cont.)
THE ROCKY SPRING
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[from page 117] CONTENTS.
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ONLINE FILE NAME
Introductory 9 histrschurch01.txt
History of Rocky Spring Church‹Part I. 11 histrschurch01.txt
" " " " - Part II. 22 histrschurch01.txt
" " " " - Part III. 31 histrschurch01.txt
Sketches of Deceased Ministers 41 histrschurch01.txt
Presbyterianism and Civil Liberty 60 histrschurch02.txt
The Historic Families of the Cumberland 73 histrschurch02.txt
Valley
American Presbyterian Church in America 87 histrschurch02.txt
Some Lessons from the History of this Church 97 histrschurch02.txt
Old Families of Rocky Spring 102 histrschurch02.txt
List of Pew Holders, 1768‹1794 109 histrschurch02.txt
List of Pew Holders, 1800 112 histrschurch02.txt
The Graveyard 114 histrschurch02.txt
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PRESBYTERIANISM AND CIVIL LIBERTY.
_________
BY HON. JOHN STEWART.
_________
The fact that two representative Scotch-Irish divines have already addressed
you and there still remains a fragment of the morning for further exercises,
is not to be taken as evidence of any decline in the ability or endurance of
the Presbyterian pulpit. Had either of these worthy gentlemen been allowed
to choose his own theme and set his own limit to the discussion of it, we
would doubtless still be listening to a learned discussion of some one of
the five points of Calvanism which would have required the whole morning for
its unfolding, and a large section of the afternoon for its application,
leaving to the other brother but sufficient time for the orthodox
benediction. It was otherwise arranged, not because of any distrust in the
ability of these gentlemen to handle these high themes in a manner quite as
exhaustive, and for that matter quite as exhausting, too, as would have
been expected of the preachers ot an earlier age; but rather because of
distrust in the endurance, submission and resignation of the people who were
to do the listening. If the circumstances warrant any inference of decline,
let us be honest enough to admit that it is in ourselves. We of the laity
cannot afford to expose our clergy to any unjust suspicion. On the contrary
it is as little as we can do to guard
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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with jealous care their reputation as the special conservators of the faith,
the traditions, the interpretations and the customs of our dead progenitors,
since to accommodate ourselves with a larger freedom, we have left them to
take into their exclusive care the ark of that solemn league and covenant,
which so securely guards for all time those rich treasures of the church
which are so familiar, to all of us, and so dear to the Presbyterian heart,
the institutes of Calvin and the deliverances of the Westminster divines.
That they have well and nobly discharged this high task which we have
imposed on them is most evident from the fact, that notwithstanding they
have carried that ark through the storms of a century, its contents remain
intact, without diminution or enlargement, and are as dry as when first
committed to their charge. In view of such a fact as this it would be most
ungenerous if we were to expose any of them to a suspicion of
latitudinarianism in faith or practice. In the present instance they have
simply conformed to the requirements of the occasion‹they were brief,
because they had to be. If any of you are not satisfied with this
explanation, I am authorized to say that you are at liberty to assemble
yourselves in some convenient place apart, and either of these gentlemen
will then proceed to conduct a congregational siege of indefinite length
that will make you wish that the traditions of the fathers had perished before
you were born. They have both the ammunition and the endurance equal to it.
This brings me to the subject of my story, for I am to speak to you about
ammunition‹not their kind however, and yet the two have often been used
together, or to speak more correctly, the one has often been used to
supplement the other in the days when men were accustomed to prove their
doctrine orthodox by apostolic blows and knocks. The ammunition with which I
have to do, is that which was fired from flint-lock muskets of those Ulster
Presbyterians who, true to the traditions of their race and the faith of
their church, espoused the cause of American independence and
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fought so nobly for its achievement. The Presbyterian church militant, not
in the theological but political sense, during the period of our
revolutionary struggle, is what I am expected to speak about Not being a
clergyman, it was not thought necessary to impose any restriction as to the
time to be occupied in my case. The fact that it was to be the last exercise
before dinner was thought to be sufficient protection against one of my profession.
The event of greatest significance in modern history was, undoubtedly, the
political separation of the American colonies from Great Britain, and their
federation in one common constitutional government. Though a century has
intervened between that period and this the full importance of the event
has not yet been revealed. Those who shall occupy the higher ground of a
later age than ours, will be able with clearer vision to sweep a larger
horizon; and discover mighty currents, as yet concealed from view, which
take their rise in that historic period. The event gave but little outward
sign of its immense importance, and it is not strange that the
contemporaneous world but feebly understood it Men are apt to measure the
importance of political events when they occur, by the noise and confusion
that attend them. What was the noise made by the rude guns of Lexington's
embattled farmers, to the loud reverberations of the great Frederick's
artillery at Leuthen and Rossbach, then still echoing throughout the world?
What was the assault of a few thousand Continentals at Yorktown, to the
bloody engagements which so soon followed on the borders of France and
elsewhere in Europe, when the mighty nations of the earth grappled in deadly
conflict? And yet issues of vaster moment to humanity, were to be settled in
the unequal and apparently insignificant contest of our revolution, than any
of those which converted Europe into an armed camp, and drenched a continent
in blood. These latter changed the boundaries of empires, crowned and
discrowned kings, but brought no emancipation to the people
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from the tyranny of kingly government. It was of vast consequence to the
peace of the world to change the map of Europe, to overthrow a Bourbon
dynasty, then a Napoleonic one which was to share a like fate in its turn;
but all these seem of feeble significance, after the lapse of a century,
when contrasted with the immense consequence which has resulted from the
independence of the American colonies. The issue which precipitated the
American revolution, was the right of the thirteen original colonies to
separate and independent existence; but in the issue lay a germ seed, which
was to be fruitful in blessings of civil and religious liberty beyond
anything the world had ever known. Directly involved in the struggle, was
the right of the colonies to govern themselves; indirectly involved in it,
was the supreme authority of the people in all questions of government, and
the equal right of every man with his fellow to political power and privilege.
To the maintenance and establishment of these principles of civil
government, self-evident to you as they were to the early colonists, but
rejected and despised by the rulers and privileged classes of the world, our
fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor; a
covenant which cost them six years of devastating war in which a British
king and ministry exhausted the resources of a kingdom in the mad attempt
to conquer them. But through it all, undaunted, inflexible, uncompromising,
enduring poverty, hunger, nakedness, and the calamities of war, they bore
themselves and their cause right on, until in the end they wrought out
complete deliverance from political thralldom, and were enabled here in this
new world, to crown their labors with a government of their own building and
by themselves dedicated to civil and religious freedom.
I make but passing mention of these things for my purpose lies not with
them, but rather with the men of a certain race and faith who were here in
these colonies when these things occurred, and were witnesses of them. They
are the men whose memory we assemble here to-day to honor, the
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Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of that early time. It interests and concerns us
who are their descendants, or claim kinship with them by descent from a
common ancestry, to know how they regarded this revolution, and what their
attitude towards it was. When the dread crisis came, and the alternative of
servile submission or the horrors of war was presented to the colonies, how
stood these Presbyterian forefathers of ours? There were colonists who were
for submission; there were yet others who wore a neutral garb. Were they
among either of these? It would be the marvel of history were it so. Human
conduct is often inconsistent, and illogical; men are sometimes found
opposing when you would expect them to be advocates, and submitting when you
would expect resistance; but history records no such extravagant
inconsistency in human conduct as that would be, were we to find
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in such a contest as this, either advocating
submission or standing on neutral ground. Consider the race, its lineage,
its faith, the traditions and experience of this people, and ask yourselves
where they would likely be found in such a controversy, then make your
appeal to history, and you will learn to honor their memory, not only for
the noble work they accomplished, but for the sublime consistency of their
lives, and their devotion through many generations to the cause of human
freedom. Belonging to no one nationality, but drawn together from several
into one family, by the attraction of a common faith, they built their
firesides and erected their altars in the north of Ireland, and there mixed
the blood of the Saxon with that of the Celt and Teuton, until in process of
time, were developed traits and characteristics which made them a
homogeneous and distinct race. We are told that in the settlement of New
England God sifted three kingdoms for the seed of that planting. A sifting
process covering a still greater variety than this, was required when he
prepared his seed for the Scotch-Irish planting in the American colonies;
for his design contemplated their planting not in one lati-
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tude only, but in several, from New Hampshire to Georgia. The product was to
be the same whether the seed were scattered on the barren hills of New
England, the rich valleys of Pennsylvania or the savannahs of the South;
where-ever planted it was to yield hearts of oak. But the planting was not
yet. The seed thus gathered was to be sifted and sown, again and again in
Ulster, until from these repeated processes there came a distinct and
peculiar people. They were to have more than Geneva theology in common; that
and other influences were to work an assimilation in thought and speech, in
feeling and purpose, in habit and customs, and inspire them with noble
conceptions of the rights of man, and the true object of all just
government, which were to be realized later on in another land than that in
which they then were. It may seem strange, but so it is and all history
attests it, that the soil which best produces a vigorous race is that which
is best watered by human blood. Ulster soil was so prepared. This people
whose industry had reclaimed it, and made it the fairest portion of the
island, were to be harried and torn and plundered, and many of them
butchered, because they would submit to all these, rather than surrender
their faith at the dictation of a perfidious king. Such an experience was
required to add to their creed, which already demanded a church without a
prelate, the political corollary, which demanded a government without a
king, and make them the chosen instruments to carry the new evangel to the
new world. Then came the fullness of time when both seed and soil were
ready. The field was here in these scattered colonies. Thither, across an
ocean far more treacherous then than now, came these trained and disciplined
Ulstermen, bringing with them the faith and traditions of their fathers,
hatred of tyranny and love of freedom, with an inheritance of courage,
self-reliance and humble trust in the favor of the God they served. They
were not many who moored their bark on stern New England's rock bound
coast; but the few were chosen, and
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enough to make the Londonderry of New Hampshire which they founded and where
they lived, worthy of the illustrious name they gave it. More were not
needed there, for New England was already settled by a people disciplined
and prepared for the struggle in which they were to play so prominent a
part. In far larger numbers they crowded the shores of the Carolinas, where
they were needed to neutralize and overcome the British influence then at
work. Some came to Maryland, others to New Jersey, but in the greatest
numbers they came to that colony which most needed them, in view of what was
so soon to occur. Shipload after shipload in quick succession landed at
Philadelphia, and the majority of these at once found their way to the
southeastern counties of this province, then the border of our western
civilization.
I have said that here they were most needed. Mark the Divine strategy that
directed and controlled the distribution of these Presbyterian forces, which
were then pouring into the colonies; for it was not by chance or accident
that they came in greatest numbers to this, rather than to some other
colony. If in any movement God's hand is visible, it may be seen in this. He
was on the side of the revolution, and these Scotch-Irish immigrants were to
be employed in the accomplishment of His friendly purposes. It was He who
emptied Ulster into Pennsylvania, and He did it at the right time. His
purpose now seems plain enough. Without the active cooperation of this
province, there could have been no revolution, and none would have been
attempted. With Pennsylvania hostile, or even neutral, it would have been
idle to talk of separation from Great Britain. Its unfriendly or neutral
territory, separating the northern from the southern colonies, would have
deterred the most rebellious spirits from offering resistance, which, in the
nature of things, could only have brought greater oppression and distress.
The government of the province was in the hands of the peaceful Quakers who
had founded it, and they, with the German
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Mennonites, whose religion also forbade a resort to arms, constituted a
large majority of the population. These people by their intelligent
enterprise and industry, by the wholesome system of laws they had enacted,
and by their generous treatment of friend and foe, had made the province
famous above all others. But the era of peace was fast drawing to a close;
the day was not now far off when Patrick Henry and other heralds of the
revolution, were to startle the colonies from repose by their appeal to
arms. Against the exigency of that day, what was so much needed in
Pennsylvania as the incoming of a people, to whom it had been revealed that
resistance to tyrants was obedience to God. We are apt to think of it as a
happy circumstance that these Scotch-Irish distributed themselves over these
colonies in the way they did, forgetting that it was God's own ordering, and
that He was using the limited supply of the material on hand, in the way
that would best accomplish His designs. Into this valley of ours these
people came as pioneers. The first white foot that ever made an imprint here
belonged to a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and close behind him were his
brethren with their bibles, their catechisms, their rifles, their axes, and
their rude implements of husbandry. Here they built themselves homes, then
churches, then schools. They came in such numbers, that at the beginning of
the war they constituted a third of the population of the province.
Knowing this much of the history and antecedents of this people, where, I
now ask, would you expect to find them, when choice was to be made between
submission to the demands of the British ministry, which meant chains and
slavery for themselves and their posterity, or the hazard a doubtful war for
political freedom? Surely you would expect all this iron that had been mixed
in their blood to count for something. Now make your appeal to history for
the facts. You know where these Scotch-Irish were in the colonies; they were
everywhere, but not sufficient in any one colony to give them political
control. They were
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strongest in the Carolinas and Pennsylvania. If you would catch the first
note sounded in the colonies for the cause of independence, you must turn
your ear to the south that you may hear what is borne on the winds from the
hills of North Carolina. There these people were, and plenty of them.
The blood shed at Lexington, had scarcely dried on the soil it stained, when
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the Mecklenberg district, in solemn
assembly, declared that Americans were free and independent people, and
proceeded to annul and vacate all laws and commissions confirmed by or
derived from the authority of the king of parliament. This was on May 20th,
1775, and it was the first formulated expression for political independence
which came from any organized assembly of the people. Responses came quick
and hot from the Presbyterians of Philadelphia and Baltimore, but these were
only voices in the wilderness calling the people of the colonies to prepare
for the approaching contest. A whole year was yet to be spent in fruitless
expostulation and entreaty. The idea of separation from the mother country
was entertained by few. The general voice was for resistance to the
tyrannous measures of the ministry, but for continued loyalty to the throne.
Separation was thought neither necessary nor desirable; it invited disaster
to the colonies and vindictive punishment to its abetters. The influence and
example of Pennsylvania were on the side of submission. But persistent and
repeated remonstrance brought only increased demands, with an increased
display of power to enforce them, upon the colonies, until at last the
conviction was burned into the hearts and minds of the people, that their
only possible escape from political servitude was in a war for final
separation and independence. But this province of Pennsylvania was yet to be
won over to the cause. Her Assembly had instructed the delegates in the
Continental Congress, not to consent to any step which might cause or lead
to a separation from Great Britain. How was the attitude of Pennsylvania to
be changed? For changed it
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must be before any declaration of independence could come from the
Continental Congress, and changed it must be, if such declaration, when
made, was to be enforced by arms. Two-thirds of her population professed a
faith which forbade an appeal to arms; and though there were fighting
Quakers and fighting Germans too among them, yet the great body of this
population were submissionists, and opposed to any step that would result in
war. But the Ulster Irish had multiplied rapidly, and large accessions were
constantly pouring in. During the two years immediately preceding the first
actual violence here, thirty thousand of them had been driven from Ireland
by persecution and eviction, the most of whom found homes here in
Pennsylvania, so that when the great question of independence was to be
determined these people constituted the one-third of the whole population
of the province. The Scotch-Irish of this valley‹and but few of any other
race were then here‹with their zeal inflamed by the blood shed at Bunker
Hill, and their pulses quickened by the memory of the persecution they had
suffered in early May 1776, gathered in Carlisle, then the shiretown of a
county which included this,‹and some of the men who sleep in yonder
graveyard were there that day‹blessed be their memories,‹and with unanimous
voice demanded of the Provincial Assembly that the instructions against
separation be withdrawn. If there was any earlier public demand for
congressional action looking to independence, history does not record it;
certainly this was the first utterance of the kind heard in Pennsylvania.
The Assembly heard it, and heeded it too. The memorial adopted at Carlisle
was laid before that body on the 28th of May. On the 5th of June, after much
discussion, it was referred to a committee to bring in new instructions to
the delegates in Congress. These resolutions were reported, adopted and
signed on the 14th of the same month. The divine strategy in emptying Ulster
into Pennsylvania was rapidly unfolding. It was Ulster influence that placed
Pennsylvania in line with
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her sister colonies, and gave her vote for freedom and independence on the
2d of July following, when Congress decided upon separation, and solemnly
resolved, "that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and
independent states; that they are absolved from allegiance to the British
crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great
Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved." These were brave words from
brave men; none braver were ever uttered, and none, if they are to be made
good, of deeper significance to the welfare and happiness of posterity. The
war which hitherto had been one of resistance by the courageous and freedom
loving people of New England, to the unjust and oppressive measures of a
headstrong king and stupid ministry, was now to become a war for political
independence, in which thirteen scattered and feeble colonies were to engage
the most powerful nation of Europe. Well might the brave men who spoke the
brave words, pause and hesitate, when, on August 2d, the final step was to
be taken, and each was to sign his name to that immortal paper, which was to
publish to the world their high resolve, and commit the colonies to an
undertaking so desperate as this seemed and was. But it was only for a
moment It needed but one note of defiance to break the solemn stillness of
that morning's meeting, and revive the courage of the men who so bravely
resolved two months before. John Witherspoon, the venerable President of the
Presbyterian College of New Jersey, rises, in his place, and with a voice
trembling with age, not fear, is heard to say, "Mr. President, that noble
instrument on your table, which insures immortality to its author, should be
subscribed this very morning by every pen in the house. He who will not
respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its
provisions, is unworthy the name of freeman. Although these gray hairs must
descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend
thither by the hand of the public executioner, than desert at this crisis the
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sacred cause of my country." There was hesitancy no longer, and of the
fifty-five historic men who that morning, under the leadership of John
Witherspoon, subscribed their names to the declaration of independence,
fifteen were of Scotch and Irish birth or ancestry.
And now begins the War of the Revolution, where the lives and fortunes and
sacred honor so solemnly pledged are to be given and redeemed. Where now may
we expect to find these men of Presbyterian faith, who were so early and
constant in their demand for independence at any cost, when it was to be
accomplished, if at all, by the sword? We know where you would expect to
find them; but appeal again to history. Turn in the direction where these
men were; first of all to that little colony of them in New Hampshire. For a
whole year already hundreds of them have been in the trenches at Boston, and
now hundreds more are marching thitherward under the lead of Sullivan and
Stark; both of whom are to become famous as generals in the revolution. Turn
to the Carolinas and the South, and view their kindred rally under the
chosen leaders, Morgan, and Pickens, and Campbell, and Howard. Their day of
severest trial is yet to come, but watch them and you will see them fighting
ever so gallantly at Moultrie, at Kings Mountain, at Cowpens and at Yorktown
aye, for that matter across New Jersey and at Brandywine too. Turn to
Pennsylvania, and what of her? For a whole year she too has had her brave
sons in the trenches at Boston, some from this valley, under the lead of
Chambers and others. But now a larger demand is to be made on her
patriotism. With the declaration of independence comes a call for men to
make it good. Six thousand men are required of Pennsylvania in addition to
those already in the field, amid the exigency admits of no delay. The quota
is filled, and filled rapidly, but how? Let one example stand for all. This
county of Cumberland, as it then was, was a frontier settlement, remote from
the scene of conflict and secure from British invasion. Before the
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leaves had that year fallen from the trees, this single county, sparsely
populated then, had given to Washington's army more than a thousand men, and
more than a sixth of the entire quota of the province. It gave to that army
such officers as Armstrong, and Mercer, and Irwin, and Chambers and Magaw,
and others of like service and renown. The number of men contributed to the
Continental Army by this valley, during the war was equal to the whole
number of its taxables; and the contribution of the Scotch-Irish of the
colony exceeded by one-half of the entire quota of the province. So true
and firm and devoted were the people of this faith and race, that it can be
said of Pennsylvania, that she was one of the two colonies that complied
with all the requisitions of the Continental Congress, for money and supplies.
And what they did in Pennsylvania they did in every colony, according to the
measure of their strength and numbers. There was not a battlefield in which
they did not take part. It was a task too great for the occasion, to recall
on the names of all the men of Presbyterian faith and lineage who rendered
illustrious service in the war. I shall not attempt it. It is enough to know
that the contribution of this people to the leadership of it, was as
conspicuous as their contribution to the ranks was liberal and generous;
and that all alike rendered faithful, honorable and distinguished service.
The men of that race who first settled this immediate locality, had here on
this hilltop, where now we stand, with pious hands and devout hearth, built
and dedicated to the service of God their humble sanctuary. Here they
gathered on a Sabbath day in July 1776, to hear from him who had been
appointed over them in holy things, what duty God required of them, now that
independence had been determined on. That man of God and the revolution,
John Craighead, sleeps over there in that graveyard, and about him lie the
men who returned with him from the war. To your tents O Israel! was the
message he brought
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to his people that day, and through the mists of a century and a quarter, we
can see the men of Rocky Spring congregation waving a long farewell to homes
and families, as they begin their long and toilsome march to Long Island and
the war, with brave John Craighead in the lead.
Standing amid such associations what emotions should stir our hearts today?
Pride? Yes, indulge it, for who can boast a nobler ancestry than those of
you who claim kinship with these heroic dead. Gratitude? Yes, deep and
profound let it be, from all, for the loyal and helpful service the men of
Presbyterian faith rendered the cause of American independence. Reverence?
Yes, in abundant measure, for this people adorned their heroism with the
noblest virtues and employed it in a sacred cause.
But better still, let us here enkindle our patriotism and pledge anew our
devotion to the cause of human freedom, that we may the better guard the
heritage bequeathed us. In no other way can we so well honor the memory and
perpetuate the fame of the Presbyterians of the American Revolution.
____________
THE HISTORIC FAMILIES OF THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY.
_________
BY WILLIAM HENRY EGLE, M. D.
_________
Among these representatives of theological and legal lore surrounding me, if
I have not the eloquence of the one or the profoundness of the other, I
trust that at least I may have your attention and interest in what I have to
say in a cursory resume of the family history of this charming valley.
Without any further prelude, you will pardon my abrupt launching forth with
my subject‹The Early Scotch-Irish
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Settlers of the Cumberland Valley, or, rather, its Historic Families.
On the eastern end of this valley, close to the water's edge, is a small
one-story stone structure, known in Provincial or ante-Revolutionary days as
the Kelso ferry-house, erected in 1734, of which we have positive knowledge,
it yet remains, the oldest residence in this valley. From that landmark,
almost to the Pennsylvania-Maryland line, between years 1720 and 1740,
families of Scotch-Irish extraction, the whose ancestors, after having been
seated in the Province of Ulster, Ireland, for possibly two or, three
generations, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and became the pioneers of the
Cumberland Valley, and from thence passing on to the communities South and
West, to which they gave their own distinguishing characteristics. Many of
the later generation have exerted a marked and beneficent influence,
individually and as families, upon the material progress, the educational
and religious advancement, and the political action of the several
Commonwealths where they settled. Of much concerning them‹of the martial
spirit exhibited by them and their descendants upon the battlefields of
their country‹of the high positions they have held in the Councils of the
Nation, in the pulpit and the forum‹it is not my province now to speak. The
time is too brief to enter fully into the life-history of the early pioneers
of this valley, and of the generations who have become famous in the annals
of the States and the Nation. You will bear with me, however, in a rapid
glance over the records of some of the early settlers‹brave men and bright
women‹whose descendants have loomed up above others in many sections of our Union.
It may be interesting to note just here, that at a distance of about ten
miles apart, were located the churches of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
settlements. The first west of the Susquehanna was Silvers Spring Meeting
House, fully ten miles distant from old Paxtang on the east side of the river,
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then Meeting House Spring, (Carlisle), followed by Big Spring, (Newville),
Middle Spring, (Shippensburg), Rocky Spring and Falling Spring) (Chambersburg),
and Mossy Spring, (Greencastle). Around these magnificent springs, clustered
at first, the Scotch-Irish settlers‹and here they erected their churches
and schools‹and the allusion is thus made, that we may the better be guided
in the reference to the historic families brought to our remembrance.
James Silvers and Richard Parker were probably the earliest permanent
settlers in the valley, the former locating about 1720 at the Spring which
yet bears his name, although so frequently named Silver Spring, instead of
Silvers. His descendants went into the Shenandoah Valley prior to 1750, and
in the female line intermarried with the First Families of Virginia. Richard
Parker located near the glebe of Meeting House Springs on the Conodoguinet
in 1725. His family became quite noted and influential in the early history
of the valley, and were connected with the Dennys, Dunbars and Creighs,
early settlers, and whose descendants have made their mark in Western
Pennsylvania and other localities of our Unions Major Ebenezer Denny was a
soldier of the Revolution, and his son Harmer Denny, who married a daughter
of Gem. James O'Hara, was a member of Congress and of the State
Constitutional Convention of 1837‹8. Other members of this family
were the late Rev. Thomas Creigh, D, D., of Mercersburg, and Rev. Joseph
Alexander Murray, D. D., of Carlisle, both of whom were valiant soldiers of
the Cross‹faithful ministers of the Gospel of Christ.
Of the Armstrongs, there were two prominent families‹ that of John of
Carlisle, and that of Joseph of Hamilton township, now in Franklin county.
Of the history of Col. John Armstrong, the "Hero of the Kittaning," every
Pennsylvanian ought to be familiar, as also, with the services of his son,
who rose to be a General in the War of the Revolution. His descendants are
more especially represented by
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the Astor family of New York City, although others are scattered in many
States, just as prominent even though not crowned with such great wealth.
The first Joseph Armstrong was an officer in the French and Indian War;
and, strange to say, all the histories of the valley give the son the honor
reaped by the father, the son being too young for the Indian wars, while the
father died prior to the struggle for independence. The second Joseph
Armstrong was a brave and gallant officer during the War of the Revolution,
and his remains lie in yonder graveyard. Most of their descendants have gone
out into the South and West, and, during the late conflict for supremacy of
the Union laid down their noble lives in defense thereof.
At Big Spring, possibly as, early as 1734, settled Archibald McAllister. His
son Richard laid out the town of Hanover, York county, was a member of the
Provincial Assembly and Colonel of one of the York County Battalions of
Associators in the Revolution. Some of his children went to Georgia, and
became quite prominent there‹while of their descendants‹Matthew Hale
McAllister died as a Judge in California. Others were representatives in
Congress, while one was for many years the acknowledged leader of the "Four
Hundred" in New York City, Mr. Ward McAllister. One portion of the
McAllister family went to Virginia, and with them the Mitchels and
McKnights, also early settlers near the Big Spring. From these came that
great distinguished soldier of the War of the Rebellion and famous
astronomer, General Ormsby McKnight Mitchell, and whose daughter now vies
with Miss Proctor as the leading astronomer of today.
What family in the entire Colonies became more famous than the Butlers of
the Cumberland Valley in the contest of 1776? Their fame is not restricted
to this locality alone, but is national in its range. About 1745, Thomas
Butler and Eleanor his wife, settled in West Pennsboro township in the
valley. Their five sons became eminently distinguished
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in the War for Independence; Richard, the eldest, was an Ensign in the
French and Indian War, and entered the Revolutionary struggle as Major of
the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line, promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel
of the same, and transferred to Morgan's Rifle Command in June 1777. This
legion was composed of picked men detached from the several regiments of the
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia Lines. Soon after the Revolution, in the
conflict with the Indians of the Northwest Territory, Colonel Butler was
appointed by President Washington a Major-General under St. Clair, and was
mortally wounded at the Miami disaster. William Butler became Lieutenant
Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. Thomas Butler
entered the service as First Lieutenant of the Second Pennsylvania
Battalion, became Captain in the Third Regiment of the Line and was in every
action that was fought in the Middle States during the war. His intrepid
conduct at Brandywine in rallying a detachment of retreating troops, and his
defending a defile in the face of a heavy fire from one of the enemy, at the
battle of Monmouth, are noted incidents in our Revolutionary History. In the
St. Clair expedition, against the Indians, he commanded a battalion and was
seriously wounded‹his surviving brother Edward removing him from the field
with difficulty. Upon his recovery, he was continued in the military
establishment and in 1794 was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of
the Fourth sub-legion. Percival Butler served in the Pennsylvania Line, as
Lieutenant in the Second and Third Regiments. He removed to Kentucky and was
Adjutant General in the War of 1812. One of his sons, William O. Butler, was
a candidate on the Democratic ticket for Vice President in 1848. Edward
Butler, the youngest of the brothers, was an officer in the Second, Fifth
and Ninth Regiments of the Pennsylvania Line, serving with distinction in
the contest. Under General Wayne he served in the Northwest in 1794, as his
Adjutant General.
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He removed to Tennessee, where he died. All of these five brothers left
numerous descendants, many of whom served meritoriously in the United States
Army and Navy.
It need not be here remarked that the Cumberland Valley was a nursery of
brave officers of the Revolution‹as well as of other wars. The records prove
it, and it is to be regretted that some one, with the time and inclination,
as well as love and fascination for the work, will not take up this
interesting subject, that some of the historical scavengers who are today
writing up American history, always to the disparagement of Pennsylvania and
her people, may have their mental strabismus removed, and see what even the
First Families of this lovely Valley alone have accomplished.
There were Irvines and Irwins, notably prominent among the early settlers.
Of the first named, we have General William Irvine, a hero of the
Revolution, and a man around whose name there is a halo of martial glory
which is to be honored and revered by every lover of his country. He served
during the entire war with distinction, and was one of the original members
of the Society of the Cincinnati. His brother-in-law, James R. Reid, was a
Major in the war, and a member of the Continental Congress. Some of the
Irvine family went to the Southward after the Revolution. As to the Irwins,
James Irwin settled in the lower part of the valley prior to the formation
of Cumberland county. Of his children, Archibald Irwin, was an officer in
the French and Indian War and served in the Revolutionary struggle. He
married Jean McDowell, and they were the ancestors of ExPresident Benjamin
Harrison and the family of Governor Francis R. Shunk. To the family of Irwins,
which settled in the Eastern portion of the valley we shall allude further on.
William Linn settled in Lurgan in 1736. His father fought on the side of
"The Orange" at Boyne-water. His descendants became distinguished in every
prominent walk in life. A grand son, Rev. William Linn, was a Chaplain in
the Pennsylvania Line, and the first Chaplain of the
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United States House of Representatives in 1789. Of his children, a daughter
married Charles Brockden Brown, the novelist; another, Simeon De Witt,
Surveyor General of the United States in 1796; while a son was the Rev John
Blair Linn an eminent Presbyterian divine. In the fourth generation we have
William Linn a noted lawyer and author; and the fifth in line of descent, my
friend, Hon. John Blair Linn, of Bellefonte, the historian of the Buffalo Valley.
William McGaw came to Pennsylvania early in the "Seventeen Thirties." Of his
children three became distinguished. The eldest, Samuel, became a Minister
of the Gospel, was made a Doctor of Divinity and was Provost of the
University of Pennsylvania. Robert Magaw was a soldier in the Revolution and
Colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion of the Line. He married Miss
Van Brunt of Long Island, died at Carlisle in 1790, and was buried in
Meeting-House Springs graveyard. Dr. William Magaw was Surgeon of Colonel
William Thompson's Battalion of Riflemen in 1775‹continued as Surgeon of
the First Regiment of the Line, remaining in the service until January 1,
1783. He died at Meadville. All left descendants, but none reside in the valley.
Of the Chamberses, there were two distinct families‹that of Falling Spring
and that of Middlesex, both prominent in the history of the valley‹both
honored by distinguished representatives today. Of the brothers, James,
Benjamin, Robert and Joseph Chambers, so much has been made familiar through
the histories of Cumberland and Franklin counties, that it is necessary for
me to only allude to their services in the War of Independence and that the
bravest of the family rose from a Captain in Colonel William Thompson's
Battalion of Riflemen to Colonel of the Tenth Regiment of the Line,
subsequently transferred to the command of the First Regiment. He was
wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. Colonel Chambers, title of "General"
came to him afterwards. The name of this family of Cham-
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bers is perpetuated in the naming of the beautiful town five miles distant
Of the Middlesex family of Chambers, Colonel William Chambers served with
the militia in the Revolution, was a man of prominence in public affairs,
and is represented in the fourth generation by that distinguished divine,
Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, D.D., of New York City.
Tobias Hendricks settled three miles east of Harrisburg, about 1729 or 1730.
His grandson William Hendricks, enlisted the first company west of the
Susquehanna for the contest for liberty. Within ten days after the reception
of the news of the Battle of Lexington, and as soon as orders were received,
he was on his march to join Washington's little army in front of Boston. His
was one of the two Pennsylvania companies of expert riflemen which were
ordered upon the Quebec expedition under Arnold. There the gallant Hendricks
lost his life on the last day of the last month of the year 1775. From this
family of Hendricks sprung Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.
John Potter settled in the Valley prior to 1740. He was the first Sheriff of
Cumberland county. Their son, James Potter, was a hero of the Revolution,
rose to be a Brigadier General, and became Vice President of Pennsylvania
during the war. He settled in Centre, then in Northumberland county, but
died at the residence of his son-in-law, Captain James Poe, in the Valley.
Speaking of the Poes reminds me of the fact that several of that name were
early settlers in Antrim township. From these came, besides Captain James,
just alluded to, a soldier of the Revolution, the Indian fighters of Western
Pennsylvania and Virginia, Adam and Andrew Poe, whose thrilling exploits are
given in "Incidents of Border Life." Another member settled beyond the Line
in Maryland, became the ancestor of Edgar Allen Poe, that erratic genius,
whose poetic fire flashed as his young life went out in sudden darkness.
Accidental circumstances made him born in Boston, but his ancestors lived in
this Valley, settled here
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over a century and a half ago, and, as with others, claims all her children.
Among the early settlers were the Caldwells and Calhouns. Some of these went
into the Virginia Valleys, and thence into the Carolinas and Georgia, while
Kentucky and Tennessee honor their descendants today. Of this stock came
John Caldwell Calhoun, the nullifier of South Carolina. During the recent
conflict for the perpetuity of the Union, many of these people took an
active part in the Rebellion, especially those South, who became
distinguished in the cause of the Confederates. In the West others were
arrayed on the Union side of the struggle, some of whom perished in that
fratricidal strife; but, all proved the bravest of the brave, leaving
imperishable renown on the name.
No doubt you have all heard of the Brady family. Hugh Brady settled near
Middle Spring, prior to 1740. He had quite a large family of children, the
most noted of whom was John Brady, his second son. He was the father of
Captain Samuel Brady, the eldest of the family, and General Hugh Brady, who
was greatly distinguished in the service of his country during the early
part of the present century. Of the gallant exploits of Captain Samuel
Brady, it would take a volume to narrate, and, much that is said of him
belongs to the record of his uncle Samuel Brady, who was an officer in the
War of the Revolution, wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, where two of his
sons, Samuel, his eldest, and John, a youth of fifteen years, were in the
same conflict. With his family are intimately connected the Sharps, early
settlers, as also the Quigleys. Captain John Brady perished, as also did his
son, by the hand of the red savages of the forest, and the second Samuel
Brady was cradled among dangers. Much that has been said of him is entirely
erroneous, but accounts of his many conflicts and hairbreadth escapes are
all well authenticated. He never was a cruel foe, as has been pictured by some
of the recent writers of sensational history. The late A. Brady Sharpe, of
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Carlisle, was a distinguished descendant of this family. Many of the family
intermarried with the families of Chambers, Wallace, Hanna, Carnahan, and Irvine.
Andrew Gregg, of Ballyarnat, near Londonderry, Ireland, settled in the
Cumberland Valley prior to 1750 on a farm adjoining the glebe of
Meeting-House Springs, which was in sight of his dwelling. His son, Andrew,
born near Carlisle, was one of the most distinguished men from 1791, when he
entered the public service, until his death. He was a Member of the Lower
House of Congress sixteen years, and in 1807 served as United States Senator
from Pennsylvania. His wife was Martha Potter, daughter of General James
Potter, just referred to. Among the most distinguished of the family of the
same surname, was the late General J. Irvin Gregg, who served with
distinction in the War of the Rebellion, and also David McMurtrie Gregg, the
present most excellent Auditor General of Pennsylvania, who was promoted
Brevet Major General U. S. Volunteers, for highly meritorious and
distinguished conduct throughout the campaign, and who participated with his
cavalry command in the most important engagements in the War for the Union.
From the first Andrew Gregg's son John, descended Andrew Gregg Curtain,
properly named the "War Governor" of Pennsylvania.
Charles Maclay, as also his brother John, settled in the Valley about 1742.
From the former were descended William and Samuel, both United States
Senators from Pennsylvania. Of them, and their distinguished services to the
State and Nation, time will not allow us more than an allusion. John Maclay's
son John was an elder in the Middle Spring Church. They left a large family,
including men and women, who became distinguished in their various callings.
Elizabeth, daughter of John Maclay the first, married Colonel Samuel Culbertson,
of "The Row." Their descendants include Rev. James Culbertson, of Zanesville, Ohio;
Mrs. John Rhea, the widow of General Rhea, who
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was a Member of Congress from Pennsylvania, and the Rev. S. C. McCune, of
Iowa. It is doubtful whether any one family in the United States contains as
many representative men and women, as are found among the "Maclays of Lurgan."
Thomas McCormick, grandson of James, who was at the siege of
Londonderry,‹came to Pennsylvania in 1735. He located in East Pennsboro
township in Cumberland county about 1748. He died about 1762, leaving a
family of five sons and a daughter. From their son James are descended the
McCormicks of Harrisburg, while from Robert, who married Martha Sanderson,
we have the grandson, Cyrus H. to whom the world is indebted for the famous
reaping machine, and which has made the family not only famous but wealthy.
About the year 1730 there came into the lower part of the Cumberland Valley,
the family of William McDowell. He settled at the foot of Parnell's Knob,
about ten miles west of Chambersburg, but was driven away by the Indians,
subsequent to Braddocks defeat. It was during his absence from home, that he
died at the residence of friends near the Susquehanna, and was buried at the
old Donegal Church graveyard. He left a large family and they are the
ancestors of the McDowells, who have not only assisted to make this valley
famous, but became quite prominent in the history of the Carolinas and
Kentucky. During the War of the Revolution, several of them distinguished
themselves as officers in the Pennsylvania Line, and there has recently been
published in the Second Series of Pennsylvania Archives, an interesting
journal of Lieutenant William McDowell of the First Pennsylvania Regiment
concerning the Southern Campaign of 1781‹82. This family is connected with
the Maxwels, Pipers, Newells, and Reynolds, as well as the Findleys of the
Cumberland Valley.
John Williamson settled in the Valley as early at 1740; his wife was Mary
Davidson, belonging to that family of the
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neighborhood. Of their children the Rev. Hugh Williamson, was a
distinguished divine, as also a soldier of the Revolution and an author of
considerable note, being the historian of South Carolina. Another son, John,
was a distinguished lawyer, but after the Revolution he became a wealthy
merchant of Charleston, South Carolina. A daughter, Margaret, married
first, William Reynolds. Left early a widow with a small family, she married
Daniel Nevin. From them descended the Nevin family, the most distinguished
of whom was the great theologian of the Reformed Church, Rev. John
Williamson Nevin, D. D. Another daughter, Mary Williamson, married a
McClintock, while Rachel Williamson intermarried with the Montgomerys.
William McLene settled about 1745 near what is called Brown's Mills in
Franklin county. He had located some time in Chester county, where his son
James received the rudiments of a good education, at the New London Academy.
It is a remarkable fact that many of the most prominent of the historic
families of Cumberland county remained with their friends and neighbors who
had previously removed from Ireland, in the Scotch-Irish settlements in
Chester and Lancaster counties, for several years, until the farms were made
tillable and their homes were erected in the Valley. It is more than
probable that owing to this fact, the representative men of this locality
prior to the Revolution, were educated at the Classical Academy at New
London, then under the charge of the Rev. Francis Alison. James McLene took
an active part in the early deliberations of the conferences, through and by
which, Pennsylvania declared herself a free and independent State. Mr.
McLene served not only in the Assembly but in the Supreme Executive Council,
as well as in the Continental Congress. He was a remarkable man in many respects,
and, until his death in 1806, he was influential in public affairs. He was
buried in Brown's Mill graveyard, four miles northeast of Greencastle.
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The Pomeroys settled in Letterkenny township, prior to 1740. The various
members took active parts in the struggle for independence. Many of the
descendants remain in the Valley, with whom some of the prominent or
representative families have intermarried.
The ancestors of Presidents James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson were early
settlers in the Cumberland Valley, and from thence went first to Virginia
and subsequently to Kentucky and Tennessee. As is well known, the ancestors
of President Buchanan were also settlers in the Valley and that distinguished
statesman was born at "Stony Batter," in this county of Franklin.
Recently in glancing over, the signers of the celebrated Mecklenburg
Declaration, approved and signed by the Provincial: Congress of N. C., the
20th of May, 1775, I was especially struck with the number of persons
connected therewith, who were natives of the Cumberland Valley, and I wish
briefly to refer to them: Hezekiah and John McKnitt Alexander were born in
the lower part of the Valley. They were members of the Committee of Safety
for Mecklenburg County, as well as delegates to the Provincial Congress of
North Carolina, in April, 1776. John Davidson was the son of John and Ann
Davidson, who settled in West Pennsboro township about the year 1731. He
served also during the War of the Revolution and became quite distinguished.
Another Davidson was Patrick, who settled about the same time in the Valley.
His son George removed to North Carolina in 1750, and was the father of
General William Davidson, born in the Cumberland Valley in 1746, and who so
distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War. He was killed near Cowan's
Ford in 1781, thus falling in the prime of life and when of great
usefulness to his country. North Carolina has honored herself and him, by
naming one of her counties for this noble and patriotic soldier. John Irwin
settled in the Valley, in what was subsequently Milford township, about
1734; his son Rob-
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ert removing to North Carolina, became a distinguished officer and performed
important military service during the war. Benjamin Patton, the son of
William and Elizabeth Patton, who settled in Peters' township, removed at an
early period to the eastern part of Mecklenburg County. He was a man of iron
firmness and indomitable courage. Descended from the proud blood of the
covenanters, he inherited their tenacity of purpose, sagacity of action and
purity of character.
Zacheus Wilson, James Harris and Matthew McClure, also signers of that
declaration, were emigrants from the Cumberland Valley into western North
Carolina. Thus it will be seen that not only were the descendants of these
early Scotch-Irish settlers remaining in the Valley, true to their friends,
to their country, and their God,‹but, those who went Southward performed
deeds of noble daring and exemplified that lofty patriotism which has been
the distinguishing characteristic of the Scotch-Irish settlers of the
Cumberland Valley in their own homes. No other settlement in the Colonies of
similar area ever sent forth so many men of distinguished bravery and zeal
in the cause of liberty.
There are, perchance, more representative families descended from the early
Scotch-Irish settlers in this Valley than from any other section. From Maine
to California there are people bearing the same surname, as well through
intermarriage tracing their ancestry to those sturdy pioneers of the
forest, and it would afford me much pleasure to rehearse their distinguished
services, not only to the States wherein they dwell, but to the Nation at
large. I can only refer in praise at this time to the deeds of the Blaines,
of Middlesex; the Allisons of Antrim; the Duncans of Carlisle; the Elliotts
of Peters; the Browns of Antrim; the Lyons of Milford; the Maxwells of
Peters; the Culbertsons of "The Row"; the McConnells, Herrons, and
Hendersons of Letterkenny; the McCalmonts and Stevensons,
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but time on the present occasion will not allow. I intended to refer
somewhat to the Campbells, the Findlays, Hoges, Breckenridges and
Craigheads, but these also, with the record of others, must be left for some
future historian of the Valley.
It would greatly please me to continue this subject further, as there are
hundreds of families of more or less prominence concerning whom and their
descendants I may have information. The theme is a fruitful one, and there
certainly is a fascination about following the lines of descent from the
first settler to those of the present generation, scattered as they are to
the North, South, East and West. Some day, there may arise, I hope, some one
who will take this matter up, and, with a love that knows no faltering,
preserve to you and those who come after you, a faithful record of the
"Historic Families of the Cumberland Valley."
____________
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN
AMERICA.
_________
BY REV. THOMAS MURPHY, D. D.
_________
No subject of deeper interest can we study than that of the Providence of
God over the affairs of human history and to us no point of that study could
be more absorbing, than that whereby He directed the earliest movements of
history to the accomplishment of His great design in reference to this land
in which we live. That He had in view for it some sublime purpose in the
future we cannot question. On that account, every movement of His
Providence in reference to our land, becomes to us a point of intense
moment; and of all other points none are so inter-
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esting as those whereby He prepared a church for our people. Moreover, of
all churches, to be gotten ready for the country, none could have the
attraction for us that we find in the Presbyterian. In it we believe we can
very clearly trace His divine footsteps in preparing a Presbyterian Church
in America in which there are many kindred principles‹It was an American
Presbyterian Church for America‹and the successive stages of its preparation
form the subject on which we would dwell. Merely as a subject for study it
is most attractive, but as involving the very highest welfare of our
country, it must awaken our greatest interest. The successive stages of
preparation for the church, run parallel with the progress of the country,
and cannot but attract our affectionate study. We would take these stages in
succession, that we may see clearly the wonderful similarity.
First. We see the hand of God in the gathering of the people out of which
the church is to be formed. They were all people from lands where a sound
Presbyterian faith had long prevailed. Chief among them were the
Scotch-Irish, from Ulster and the land of John Knox, and German Calvinites,
from Basil and the home of Calvin, and the faithful from the banks of the
Rhine, and Welsh Calvinites from Travecea‹and descendants of the Puritans
from England; and children of the Huegenots from Prance, and many others of
a kindred spirit and creed. They were peoples, all of whom had suffered
severely in their ancestral homes for their God and their faith.
Second. The next stage of God's leading was seen in His providing for these
gathered people a sound scriptural creed. The crowning act of this great
event was, when in 1729, they heartily and most solemnly adopted the
Westminster Confession of Faith, with the catechisms, as the standard of
their belief, and pledged themselves in the most solemn manner that they
would follow its doctrines and practice.
The Third stage by which God was preparing His church
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for this land, was that of providing for her an educated ministry. From the
first, the Presbyterian Church would have no ministers but those who had
been carefully trained for their great work, and at that early day when
foundations were to be laid this was especially needed. Our fathers could
not rely any longer on a supply of ministers trained in Scotland, Ireland or
the colleges of New England. There must be some method found by which the
young men could be trained at home. By a strange, almost romantic, path of
Providence this was provided for in the establishment of the renowned Log
College. The story of the beginning of that blessed institution has never
been told in its simple facts. It has only recently been discovered in the
archives of Bucks County, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Only now has even the
name of the founder been brought to light in connection with the records of
the transfer of property in those early days. Marvelous was the way in which
Providence prepared the way.
The true founder was a humble girl named Catharine Kennedy, born about 1678,
in County Armagh, Ireland. Carefully educated in the manse of her father,
Rev. Dr. Kennedy, in the earnest faith and love of Christ, her chief
training for her glorious life-work began while yet but a child. At that
time merciless persecution for the Presbyterian Faith of his ancestors,
drove her father into exile in Holland, the daughter of hope and promise
with him. After a time, the bloody persecution abating, the fugitives
returned to their native land. There, she soon made the acquaintance of a
young Episcopal clergyman, just graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
They were married; and, after a time, probably through the influence if her
godly example and persuasions, he left the Church of England, and entered
that of her Presbyterian, father. A few years pass, and probably through her
influence again, he, the great and good, Rev. William Tennent, with his wife
and four boys who had been born to them, sought a better field of usefulness in
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preaching the Gospel to the Indians in America. By the leadings of
Providence, they were conducted step by step, to the founding of what became
the celebrated Log College; a very humble structure of 20 by 18 feet, formed
of logs cut down by their own hands in the adjoining woods. Its first design
was the education of the four boys; but others soon sought its advantages,
and it rapidly grew into the so-called college where most of the first
ministers of our church were trained. That was the scene of the noble
Catharine's great life-work. In helping, probably sometimes with her own
hands even, the erection of the building, encouraging her husband, often
despondent, and not strong in body, proving a mother to all the boys, in
their sickness and sorrows, she left the impress of her deep piety, fine
scholarship and eminently good sense, upon the character of all the young
men trained at that first school of the prophets. It was, through her
influence that the ten Log College Evangelists had the foundations laid of
their future marvelous power for Christ and His cause. To no other
individual is our church and country so much indebted as to Catharine
Kennedy though until a few years ago, even her name was unknown to the
world.
The Fourth stage by which God Was getting his church ready for the country
He was establishing, was the endowing that infant body with the special
power of the Holy Spirit. This was, in one respect at least, the most
marvelous of his doings. The first ministers, most of whom had come from
abroad, were soundly learned men, and possessed of correct theological
creed, but their piety was less spiritual and earnest. A different spirit
was needed for a great church of a great country. How was the want to be
met? In a way we would little have expected. He sent here that most godly
and eloquent man, Rev. George Whitfield, bringing with him from England, the
burning spirit of the Oxford Methodists. He came and preached to thousands
upon thousands, imparting his earnest spirit wherever he
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went. In no place did he leave so deep an impression as upon Log College.
Through him the tone of piety there was utterly changed and intensified.
Before, it was eminent for its sound learning and theology; now it became as
eminent for its devoted piety. How can we imagine the greatness of the
marvel that the acknowledged great spirituality of John Wesley, without a
particle of his errors, should thus be made the reigning spirit of the
church destined to such a mission. Verily it was God's doing, and it is
marvelous in our eyes!
The Fifth stage of preparation was another very great marvel. The sound
creed was provided; the arrangements for an educated ministry were made; the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit had been granted‹all was ready; but the
blessings were confined to a narrow locality. The Log College, the city of
Philadelphia, and large circle around it were all yet reached; but the
gracious influences were intended for the whole country. East, West, North
and South were all contemplated in the sublime scheme. It was a national
preparation which the God of the nations intended. How are the other parts
of the land to be reached? How is the whole country to be included in the
gracious work? The God of infinite wisdom and power has his plan ready. In
the Log College, He has a band of ten evangelists prepared, with the same
doctrines and the same spirit; but with different gifts, and different
powers, as soon as his plans are ripe; to spring forth over the whole land
and spread the system in every quarter, and plant the standard at every
point But little is this glorious movement understood.
The names of these blessed men, all taught in the Log College, sanctified by
the same spirit, and bring with them the same love to Christ and souls, must
be had in remembrance. They were the four great sons of Tennent, Gilbert,
William, John and Charles; the two brothers, Samuel and John Blair, Samuel
Finley, William Robinson, John Rowland, and Charles Beatty. These were the
men whom God
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prepared and sent abroad to disseminate the cause over the whole land. Not
only did he give them all this general commission, but to each of them a
special work, and a general qualification. Gilbert Tennent, was the pioneer,
to break down with the blows of a giant, all that might oppress. William
Tennent, Jr., was the saintly man appointed to illustrate how near are the
interests and communion of heaven and earth. John Tennent, the type of true
piety, who did his brief, but glorious work, and then went home. Charles
Tennent, the model pastor, leaving an example for all ministers. Samuel
Blair the eminent preacher, drawing thousands to the cross. John Blair the
theologian, needed to define the doctrines of the church. Samuel Finley, the
establisher of institutions for learning and piety. William Robinson,
prominently the evangelist who as a flying angel, preached the gospel in
every quarter; and who, as asserted by Dr. Archibald Alexander, was the
means of more true conversions than any other man by whom the land was ever
blessed. John Rowland, the great revivalist, leading the way in this method
of building up the cause. And finally Charles Beatty, the gentleman by
instinct and culture, with his mission to recommend the gospel to the
cultured, the refined and the intellectual. Among those who had entrusted
to them the work of spreading the cause over all the land, I must name
another, a most blessed woman. Among those born of women, how few so highly
blessed as she! The simple story of her relationship to the great, and the
good is all that we can give. She was the sister of the two eminent
brothers, Samuel and John Blair. She was the wife of Rev. Dr. Robert Smith,
president of Pequa Academy, almost equal in learning to its mother, the Log
College. She was mother of Rev. Dr. Stanhope Smith, first the president of
Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia; and afterwards president of Princeton
College. She was also mother of Rev. Dr. John Blair Smith, who followed his
brother as president of Hampden-Sidney College, and then became president of
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Union College, Schenectady, New York. Moreover, she was foster mother of
Rev. John Caldwell, prominent in the Macklenburgh Convention, Dr. McMillan,
the great western missionary, of Dr. George Duffield, of Dr. Rice of
Kentucky, and many others of the great and good of that early day.
Where‹where such a blessed record as this?
The sixth stage of this marvelous preparation was as strange as the rest.
Its design was to homologate, to bring into harmony the many and various
discordant elements of which the church was originally composed. In the
original formation of the church, there were members from Ulster, from
Scotland, from Old and New England, from Switzerland, from the Palatinate of
Germany, from Wales, and other lands. How could all these harmonize in
doctrine and practice. They had been accustomed to utterly diverse views of
nonessential doctrines, to different ways of worship and plans of work. They
were good men and true, but in their minor points they had been used to
different modes. Though truly converted men, they could not at once see
alike in all things. And without that harmony of views, how could they work
and worship together in peace and prosperity? Then how could they at once be
brought all to see, and feel and act in full accord. Such a chance would
ordinarily be the work of centuries. But the work could not wait. One united
and harmonious church was needed at once, as both church and country were
reaching maturity. How shall the problem be solved‹the difficulty met? To
mere human wisdom it was impossible; but God has his own plan ready. In His
mysterious Providence he suffered the church to be rent in twain by what is
ordinarily called the great Schism of the old and new controversy. Prom the
human side it was a pure and great calamity. Pride, and prejudice, and
passion seemed to rage supreme. But what was the Lord doing with it? What
could be accomplished by no other power on earth. The breach began in 1741;
and by it misunderstandings were cleaned up, doc-
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trines were discussed and defined, plans were tried and adopted, or
rejected, passions had time to cool, and men were seen in excellencies of
character, which they were never before supposed to possess. Thus was the
blessed result achieved. The annealing process went on for seventeen years;
when all had become healed in 1758; and that in the spirit of these blessed
words sincere and permanent‹"All complaints and differences shall be
mutually forgiven and buried in perpetual oblivion, and they shall unite in
principle as though they had never been concerned with one another, nor had
any differences." Oh how gloriously perfect in result is God's work!
Seventh Stage. All was now ready‹all prepared for the New American Church
for America‹all but one thing; and that would require time‹veneration for
the fathers was needed‹sweet associations of the memories of other
days‹attachments to the old church, with which was connected many blessed
reminiscences, the feeling of "our good old church" was wanted there still.
Again had the infinite wisdom provided for the want. Time was required in
which all that had been accomplished should be settled‹ defined and fully
established. The principles of doctrine and order were to take root; the
habits, and character, and modes of thought, and forms of an American
Presbyterian church were to be matured; influencing traditions were to be
formed; the great power of early associations was to be created; the
children were to be put in possession of such peculiar attachment to the Old
Church as is hallowed by the memories of the past. But this would require
many years; and even that was providentially provided for. Moreover it
explains a mystery that seemed very dark. In the progress of the cause we
find a strange break. From 1758, when the great Schism was healed, until
1788, all seemed at a stand-still, only one church was organized. Not one
important movement was witnessed, all seemed dead. Thirty years, a whole
generation in time, seemed lost to the his-
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tory. What means this? Has the Divine scheme, as to the church been
abandoned? No, no, far from it. That long period of apparent inaction, was
accomplishing a most important end. It was ripening all the previous
planting. It was establishing the cause for the next, and final stage.
Eighth Stage. That last stage was the organization of the church; for which
God, in his usual manner, was so long, surely, steadily, gloriously
preparing. In that final stage, of organizing the church, there comes to
light, in a way which cannot possibly be mistaken, the fact that this
American Presbyterian Church and American nation or government had been
prepared for each other by the sublime working of God's Almighty Providence
through all the preceding years. The way in which this is made absolutely
unmistakable is that the General Assembly of the church was organized, and
the constitution of the government adopted, at the same time, in the same
place, by men of the same views, and on the same principles. These momentous
facts are beyond all controversy, and with a glance at them we close our
remarks.
First, as to the Time. The General Assembly was organized on May 24th,
1789. The organization of the government was consummated, when Washington
was inaugurated as President on April 30th, 1789‹the great events only
twenty-four days apart!
Second, as to the place. Both events occurred on well nigh the same spot.
Not only was it in the same city of Philadelphia; but the constitution of
the government was adopted in a hall a little over two squares from the
church where the church was organized. A clear voice might have been heard
from one building to the other.
Third, men of the same views formed both. The men who organized the General
Assembly were all, of course, staunch Calvinites. On the best of authority
we have it that: "For above one hundred and thirty years previous to the
adoption of the constitution, all the higher institutions of
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the land were under Calvanistic management and teaching." But that was the
period in which the great statesmen who wrote that instrument had received
their education and bias. Such were the institutions which made them what
they were. Hence their spirit, the bent of their minds, their opinions and
views, and their interpretations of history were the same as those of the
framers of the Constitution of the Church.
Fourth. Formed on the same principles. The principles of the two were
precisely alike, as even the most superficial examination will reveal. (1) A
total disconnection of church and state, the one asking no aid, the other
acknowledging no obedience. (2) Total separation from the old world‹one
seeking no ordinations, and the other yielding no allegiance. (3) Both
adopted written constitutions, as guides to all their laws. (4) Absolute
equality in all the members of their respective constituencies‹the one
tolerating do prelates of any degree‹the other no potentates or privileged
claims. (5) The framing of both constitutions was on precisely the same
plan‹in the one, the church, the session, the Presbytery, the Synod and the
General Assembly. In the other, the township, the county, the state and the
general government. (6) The principle of representation in all bodies. (7)
Courts of review and appeal identical in every respect.
Now were all these coincidences mere chances? Did they all merely happen to
be so? Who can imagine that the mere wisdom of men made this arrangement? Is
it not as manifest as the day that the same mind was at work in the
formation of the purpose that shaped them all, and that the all-wise mind?
Was there not clearly one great plan in both lines of events? Was not that
plan to set up a great nation that would take a leading part in the final
movements of the earth, and side by side with it a great Scriptural Church,
that would influence its character and shape its destiny?
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SOME LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY OF THIS CHURCH.
_________
BY HON. JAMES A. BEAVER.
_________
The church building being unable to accommodate the crowds who were in
attendance upon the Centennial, demand was made that Gen. Beaver should take
a place in the doorway where he could be heard by those who were inside as
well as outside the church. The double doors at the side of the church were
opened and, standing in the doorway, he partly faced the congregation
inside and the great crowd gathered about the doorway, and was in full view
of the churchyard connected with the church, where so many of the founders
of the church who were instrumental a hundred years ago in erecting the
building in which the services were held, lie buried.
The General spoke without notes and, as he said, without previous
preparation, the substance of his remarks being what follows:
My Friends, and Friends of the Friends of my Ancestors:
I have joined with you in this service today with very great delight The
invitation to be present was both a surprise and a pleasure, and ever since
its receipt I have counted in anticipation upon what has been more than
realized in the services of today. The journey hither has been in itself a
rare enjoyment. A ride through the Cumberland Valley always brings pleasure
with it: but, I have, in addition‹being the guest of my friend
Pomeroy‹enjoyed to the full the graphic account of the several occupations
of Chambersburg by those who were opposed to us during the late Civil War,
as I heard it from the lips of his mother-in-law, Mrs. William McLellan. The
drive from Chambersburg here this morning has also been exceptionally
pleasant, and, as I have mingled with you in social intercourse during the
day and have heard, from the lips of
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those who were abundantly able to furnish us both instruction and enjoyment,
how for more than a century this region has been cultivated, morally and
religiously and how for a round century this building has stood a very
beacon light of Gospel truth upon this hilltop, I have realized to the full
that it is good to be here.
The thoughts which come to me upon the occasion, however, are not all
joyous. As we have listened to the story of what this church was a century
ago and compare what we learn its condition to be now with what it was then,
one cannot help a feeling of sadness, in view of the contrast; and this
feeling is emphasized when we consider that this church stands for very many
in like condition throughout this valley and throughout our goodly
Commonwealth. Many churches, once flourishing and sending out streams of
wholesome and elevating influences, are practically dead or able to maintain
life only by help from outside themselves. A first and partial view of the
subject is discouraging and we are prone to think that the Church goes
backward. As a matter of fact, this is not so. The general tendency of the
age is toward city and town life, and, as our people congregate together,
they naturally seek conveniences for worship in their own vicinity. The
result in this case, as in many other cases, is that churches in towns and
villages draw to their support the descendants of those who formerly founded
and maintained this church. If you consult the names of the original pew
holders, as they are givt n in the draft which has been exhibited here
today, and interrogate their descendants who have come together to observe
this centennial, you will find that many of them are doing just as good work
for their Master and for the church of their choice in cities and towns and
villages widely separated, as was done by their ancestors who founded and
maintained the Rocky Spring Church. In looking, therefore, at the question
which naturally suggests itself, in view of the condition which confronts
us, we must take a broad view of the case
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and determine whether or not, viewed from the standpoint of the entire
Church, we have not made a great advance upon former times. The general
statistics of the Church will undoubtedly sustain this view; and, instead of
being saddened by the decadence of what was once a flourishing and
influential church, now reduced to a handful unable to support a pastor of
themselves, we must look at the streams of influence which have flowed hence
to the uttermost parts of the earth, beautifying and fructifying in their
course the localities which have been reached by them. The towns in this
immediate vicinity, towns and cities more remote, and the great metropolis
of our country itself, send the representatives of the families who
worshiped here to testify to the wholesome influence which went out from
this church and to the steadfastness and loyalty of their sons to the truth
as it was maintained by the Fathers in this place. I recall at this moment a
church in the immediate vicinity of my home, situate something as this is,
which was originally the strong, vigorous and influential organization
which enabled our church in Bellefonte, in connection with it, to call a
pastor and which for many years led our church in numbers, in influence and
in all that makes church life vigorous and wholesome and helpful. The
tendency toward town life, of which I have spoken, has brought many of the
members of that church into connection with our own. At the organization of
a single church in Illinois, thirty-eight of its members were found uniting
together in establishing a new church of our faith and order. Many other
churches in the West testify in like manner to the help which they have
received from this strong mother church. These depleting influences have
gone on, until .it is now unable to support a pastor and depends upon
occasional supplies for maintaining the regular means of grace. There is
undoubtedly a sad side to the case to which I have alluded and yet that
church was founded in large part by those who were at one time connected
with this church.
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The Cumberland Valley and the Rocky Spring Church sent the McCalmonts to
Nittany Valley and the Lick Run Church. They for years constituted an
important element in maintaining that church. They have all gone from the
locality and the Church at Bellefonte, and others in western states to which
I have alluded, have absorbed the entire family; so that, as I stand here, I
can readily recall the grandchildren of the men who founded this church who
are bravely and loyally doing their share in building up and maintaining
churches elsewhere in our own State and in Home Mission fields of the States
farther west. Let us not yield to this feeling of discouragement, therefore,
but gather from the condition which confronts us the claim which this church
and others of like character have upon those who have drawn from it the
strength of its earlier years and influence.
As I look from the hilltop across the valley which opens out before me,
there comes within the range of my vision the neglected churchyard‹God's
Acre as it is sometimes called. Its appearance gives rise to another
practical thought which I would like to emphasize in this presence. The
descendants of the old families who founded this church and whose remains
are buried in this adjoining churchyard widely scattered. Naturally they
become interested in what immediately surrounds them; and, as they become
further removed, generation after generation, from the associations which
cluster around this locality and from the more intimate knowledge of their
ancestors, it is very natural to lose sight of and interest in such a
locality as this, but assuredly the devoted men and women whose bodies lie
in yondervchurchyard deserve better of their descendants than what has been
accorded them. It has been a great pleasure to me to learn, since my coming
here, that my friend, John Gilmor, who lived in one of the villages near by,
provided fund by his will, the interest of which can be used for maintaining
the churchyard in proper con-
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dition. His wishes in this respect will no doubt be religiously complied
with and yet the fund is utterly inadequate to do what should be done in
improving these surroundings, naturally so beautiful. In looking up the
graves of my own ancestors in this neighborhood, I called upon John Gilmor
several years ago and received from him, as a loan, a receipt book which had
the names of some of my ancestors and which contains in it a receipt signed
by James McCalmont for the contribution of Mr. Gilmor's father for the
building of this church. The history of the early settlements of this
valley and of our entire State is preserved very largely through our
churchyards and the monuments which perpetuate this history should be
carefully preserved and, as they decay and moulder, should be transferred to
more enduring material. It is only in this way that we can tell, to the
generations which shall come after us, what has been done by those which
have gone before us. I sincerely hope that, as one of the results of this
Centennial, we shall see the churchyard which contains the dust of many who
lived heroic and honorable lives and who served their country as well as
their God faithfully in their day, substantially enclosed and beautified and
made the proper and worthy resting place of the bodies of these heroic
souls.
Inasmuch as I accepted the invitation to come here, with the distinct
understanding that I was not to be regarded as one of the speakers of the
day and have, therefore, made no preparation for an address, you will, I am
sure, allow me to express for myself and for those who may not have the
opportunity of giving voice to their feelings, the great enjoyment we have
together had in the services of this day. The addresses which have been
delivered are worthy of permanent preservation and I sincerely hope that we
may have them given to us in such form as will enable us to tell the next
and succeeding generations what was done here upon this day. In this way, as
well as in what I have indicated heretofore, we may tell to others some of
the history which
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has been made by those who have left their lasting impress upon this
community and, through their descendants, upon many portions of our country.
The occurrences of the day have reminded me somewhat of the regular services
of the country church of which I have a distinct recollection and which come
to me as a very pleasant memory from my boyhood's days. We have heard these
services described today‹the morning service in which we were expected to
have a doctrinal sermon of considerable length, with all the usual
accompaniments, the adjournment for lunch and the social enjoyments which
followed‹which, by the way, have been admirably carried out on this
occasion, and the shorter practical discourse which followed in the
afternoon. I owe the committee a debt of gratitude for giving me the
opportunity to be here. I have already intimated the feeling of indebtedness
under which the speakers of the day have placed me, and it only remains to
thank you all, at least such of you as I have been able to speak to and
associate with socially, and particularly the gentleman who so kindly
presented me with the bag of pears which he says were gathered from a tree
growing upon the very spot upon which my great-great-grandfather's house was
built, for the rare enjoyments of the day.
May peace remain and prosperity return to this venerable church and may the
people of the next century find it even more useful and flourishing than it
was left by those who built this edifice one hundred years ago.
_______________
OLD FAMILIES OF ROCKY SPRING.
_________
BY WILLIAM P. STEVENSON.
_________
Some time since Chauncey Depew was invited to make an address at the annual
dinner of the Holland Society in New York City, and he commenced by saying
that he had been investigating the origin and derivation of his name,
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and that while it is now Depew, he found it was formerly Depie, and before
that it was Van Pie, which gave him a place among the Dutchmen.
If he were here on this occasion I have no doubt but that he would adapt
himself to present circumstances and prove to us that he is Scotch-Irish.
We are all Scotch-Irish today, and it therefore seems fitting that I should
commence my address with a quotation from that ancient Gaelic bard Ossian,
"There comes a voice that awakes my soul,
It is the voice of years that are gone;
They roll before me with all their deeds."
It is this same voice that I hear today, and yet it is in distinct, the
mists of a hundred years hang over us. I see as through a glass darkly.
Would that I could see these old-time worshipers face to face.
This is no ordinary occasion,‹it is like the century plant which blooms out
only once in a hundred years.
As Dr. Erskine expressed it in his letter inviting me to come, I am the
representative of one of the old families who worshiped here.
My grandfather's great-grandfather settled in this vicinity about the time
of the ecclesiastical organization of this old church, more than one hundred
and fifty years ago. He and his wife lie buried in that graveyard with no
stones to mark their resting places. He and his son and his son's son and
their families worshiped in the old log church which stood here from 1750
until this substantial edifice was erected one hundred years ago.
My great-grandfather worshiped in this house from the time it was built in
1794 until he moved westward in 1803, and my grandfather has told me of his
walking from their farm called "Stevenson's Delight," near Strasburg, to
this church each Sunday when he was a child, and when I was here some twenty
years ago I found the name Stevenson marked on the pew where they used to sit.
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If the walls of this ancient church could speak, or its echoes could
syllable the memories of the past, what a tale they would tell!
In the minds of some of us these memories are gathering and forming with
more than ghostly distinctness as we try to reproduce the scenes of other
days. I have been living much in the past during the last few years, delving
into family history, and I often find my thoughts wandering back to this old
church.
I see the old log building, the grove of trees, the graveyard, the horses
standing in the shade, the gathering of families and friends to ask of each
other's interests and welfare, the old spring; and then we enter the church
and see the venerable forms of our ancestors as they assemble in the family
pews, the precentor standing within the rail, the minister in the pulpit
telling them the same old story that we love so well, the sacramental
season, the old pewter communion service, the venerable men distributing the
symbols of the bread of life, and the kindly invitation from the pastor in
the Master's name. All this we can call up in imagination, but that is all.
The first emigrants began to come into this valley about 1730. They were a
plain people with the log cabins to live in and rough homemade furniture, and
the decorations on the walls were the rifle, the pouch and the powder horn.
Their clothing was of the simplest kind and their food was equally plain.
They had few books, because they were scarce and high priced, but they could
afford to own some good ones, such as the Bible, the Catechism, the Confession
of Faith, the Psalm book and Pilgrim's Progress, and they studied these and
made themselves familiar with them and instructed their children carefully.
They were probably not all pious, but they all had the very highest respect
for religion and its institutions, and they loved the doctrine of the
Presbyterian church.
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Every Sabbath afternoon or evening the family was gathered together for
instruction in the shorter Catechism. No family was complete without the
family altar, and such scenes as Robert Burns describes in his "Cotter's
Saturday Night" were just as true of the inhabitants of this valley as of
families in Scotland.
The majority of these settlers were men of intelligence, resolution and
energy, who by their own enterprise and industry hewed out for themselves
valuable farms from the primeval forest, and these very toils, perils and
trials formed characters which enabled them to endure the hardships of their
frontier situation.
Riddle says "they were a God-fearing, liberty-loving, tyrant-hating,
Sabbath-keeping, covenant-adhering race." They were a very different class
from those who come to this country today.
One who lately came over, telling his friends about the recent Chicago
strikes and the great advantages of freedom and a free country, said, "Why,
you can not only stop work yourself; but you can make everybody else stop."
Thank Heaven our forefathers were made of different stuff!
During those terrible years from 1755 to 1765, the first pastor of this
church, Rev. John Blair, was driven from his pastorate by the Indian
incursions after Braddock's defeat, and the people all through the Kittotiny
Valley bad to flee from their homes with what effects they could carry to
the safety afforded at Carlisle and Shippensburg, so that at one time it is
said there were in Shippensburg nearly fourteen hundred of these wretched,
homeless creatures occupying cellars, sheds and barns, some of whom were
without doubt members of this old congregation.. The suffering inhabitants
of this county sent one petition after another to those careful, slow-going
Quakers in Philadelphia, who held the reins of government, and who refused,
absolutely refused, to grant arms and ammunition to these our forefathers
who were protecting them on the frontier.
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While all these things were transpiring, on July 19, 1757, a party of
Indians swooped down on one of my forefather's fields, only a few miles from
this spot, where about twenty men were reaping, and killed nine, one of whom
was Robert Stevenson, and carried away four as captives. Margaret Mitchell,
whose husband and son were murdered, took the scalp of the one Indian (who
was killed) all the way to Philadelphia in order to receive a reward which
was offered for the same.
I have often heard of Indians carrying the scalps of their victims hanging
to their belts, but I do not believe that there is any one in this audience
who can produce a female ancestor who went round with an Indian scalp in her
pocket.
About this time a funeral procession was moving along in this locality, and
the Indians rushed out and dispersed or killed the mourners, opened the
coffin, and scalped the young woman who was being carried to her burial.
Living in the safety of our present surroundings, think of what our
forefathers endured to secure them to us!
Coming down to the period of the Revolutionary War, I often think of that
stirring appeal which Rev. John Craighead made from the pulpit of the old
church, which brought every man in the audience to his feet as a volunteer
to go to the assistance of Washington. My great-grandfather Joseph
Stevenson, and several of his brothers, were of these volunteers, and he
served in the Sixth Battalion and afterward in the Eighth Battalion of
Pennsylvania troops, and I am a member of the Society of the Sons of the
Revolution by reason of his services, and a certificate to this effect, of
which I am very proud, hangs in my library.
As we walk around this hill, let us do so reverently, for we are treading on
sacred ground, dedicated to God and. to American liberty. Here lie the
remains of our ancestors who were the original settlers of this county, and
the sound of whose axes first broke the stillness of the forest. Many
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of them ventured their all to purchase the freedom we now enjoy. They built
this house of God when this was a remote frontier settlement, to
disseminate the hallowed principles of the religion of Jesus Christ, and
all of them are now gathered into that land "where congregations ne'er break
up and Sabbaths have no end."
While I stand here as the representative of the old families who attended
this church years ago, there are undoubtedly numbers of the descendants of
some of these original settlers who might have been here today, and probably
there are some in this audience, but if any of you have reason to feel
interested in this occasion, "I more," for I cannot think of any one who has
more links of historic connection with this celebration than myself. Four
generations of Stevensons worshiped in these sanctuaries, and my father and
my little son are here with me today, making seven generations that have
been on this sacred spot.
As I trace back my ancestry on every side I find them all true blue
Presbyterians, and that they played a part in the formation, organization
and early history as members of or officers in many of the old pioneer
churches of Pennsylvania, commencing with Neshaminy, in Bucks County,
Donegal and Octorara, in Lancaster, Upper and Lower Marsh Creek and Great
Conowago in Adams, Rocky Spring and Big Spring in Franklin and Cumberland,
Cross Creek and Chartiers in Washington.
Turning to the patriotic side, I find that ten of my ancestors took part in
the Revolutionary War, so that I think you will consider my pride
pardonable, both as to my Presbyterianism and my Americanism.
From Bucks, Lancaster, York and Cumberland Counties they responded to the
call to arms, and as far as I have been able to learn, every one who was of
sufficient age took part in the struggle, privates, lieutenants, captains,
majors, quartermasters and colonels.
Our Scotch-Irish ancestors hated tyranny with a "perfect
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hatred," and were among the earliest champions of freedom.
The historian Bancroft says, "The first public voice in America for
dissolving all connection with Great Britain came not from the Puritans of
New England, the Dutch of New York, nor the planters of Virginia, but from
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians."
We certainly have a goodly heritage in such an ancestry, and it seems to me
as I stand here in the church of my fathers today that I can almost feel
that their hands are stretched across the lapse of years in benediction upon
their children.
May the spirit of the past inspire us today, and the memory of our
forefathers stimulate us so that we may not forget our covenant with the
Lord God of our fathers, but may the promised blessings descend from the
fathers to the children.
Let us open our hearts to the stimulus 01 these thoughts and memories, and
as we turn away from this old ScotchIrish landmark and go to our homes, may
we feel in our hearts that the God of our Fathers is "the God of their
succeeding race."
109
THE ROCKY SPRING
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LIST OF PEW HOLDERS 1768‹1794.
_____________
The following is a list of the pew holders in the old log church of Rocky
Spring during Rev. John Craighead's ministry there in 1768‹1794.
[NOTE: Another copy of the pew list apprears in these archives. That copy
is from Notes and Queries, Historical, Biographical and Genealogical:
Relating Chiefly to Interior Pennsylvania" William Henry Egle, 1895.
There are slight differences in that list indicated by a * in this
document. Check the table of contents for the Franklin County
USGenWeb Archives to see the listing from Egle. 1794pewrockyspr.txt]
No. 1.
Joseph Culbertson,
Col. Samuel Culbertson,
Lieut. John Rhea. [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
No. 2.
Col. Joseph Armstrong,
James Finley,
William Young.
No. 3.
Robert Mitchell,
Moses Blackburn,
John Gelvin,
Andrew Thomson.
No. 4.
William Smith,
Thomas Ferguson,
William Witherow.
No. 5.
William Wallis,
Alexander Robertson,
Robert McCamey. [* Robert McCarney]
No. 6.
Daniel Eckels,
Joseph Henderson,
Robert Cauven, (Caven)
No. 7.
James Moore,
Noble Heath,
Thomas Ross.
No. 8.
John Gray,
Samuel Reed.
No. 9.
James Henderson,
Charles Herron,
Janet McCouch.
No. 10.
James Tom,
Samuel Menter,
Robert Stockton.
No. 11.
Capt. James Sharp,
Stephen Doyle,
William McHolson.
No. 12.
Samuel Jordan,
John Beard, (Falling Spring)
Thomas King.
No. 13.
Andrew Marshall,
Arthur Patterson,
Martha Wade,
William Bell.
No. 14.
Cathleen Dunlap,
Ensg. John Beard, (Rocky Spring),
William Beard,
James Henry,
Samuel Henry.
No. 15.
James Wilson,
Daniel McGregor,
Nathan Mead.
110
THE ROCKY SPRING
__________________________________________________________________
LIST OF PEW HOLDERS 1768‹1794. (Cont.)
No. 16.
James Lockard
David Jordan
William Gibson.
No. 17.
John Anderson
James McClure
Robert Miller.
No. 18.
Alexander Mares
Adjt. John Wilson [*(Elder)]
William Waddle.
No. 19.
James Walker
David Grimes
William McCord.
No. 20.
Samuel Miller
James Hise
James Ensley.
No. 21.
Capt. John McConnell
George Wilson
Lieut. Reuben Gillespy. [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
No. 22.
William Davis
James Davis
Josiah Ramage.
No. 23.
Nicholas Patterson
Andrew Wilson
Isaac Martin
James Endslow.
No. 24.
Eliza Thomson
James Nickel
Thomas Boyd
William Archibald.
No. 25.
Major James McCalmont
Lieut. Albert Torrence, [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
Hugh Wilie.
No. 26.
John Stewart
Moses Lamb
William Wayne
James Barr.
No. 27.
Charles Cummins
William Kirkpatrick
John Shaw.
No. 28.
Stephen Colwell [*Caldwell given as alternate spelling in Notes and Queries.]
Robert Colwell [*Caldwell given as alternate spelling in Notes and Queries.]
James Harper
William Johns.
No. 29.
Capt Alexander Culbertson
James Reed
William Trotter.
No. 30.
John Ferguson
Hugh Torrence
Joseph Clark.
No. 31.
Samuel Culbertson (creek)
Capt. Robert Culbertson,
Alexander McConnell.
No. 32.
Samuel Nicholson
George Davidson
John Boyd.
No. 33.
John Beard
Lieut. Joseph Stephenson [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
John Beatty.
No. 34.
James Kirkpatrick
James Dougherty
Alexander White
Thomas Taylor.
No. 35.
John Thomson,
William Fullerton,
Charles Stewart,
William Fleming.
111
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
__________________________________________________________________
LIST OF PEW HOLDERS 1768‹1794. (Cont.)
No. 36.
John Machan, (Sr.), [* Mahon in Notes and Queries.]
John Machan, (Jr.) [* Mahon in Notes and Queries. See Grave listing below.]]
Robert Brotherton.
No. 37.
John Breckenridge,
Samuel Breckenridge,
James Breckenridge,
John Clayton.
No. 38.
Robert Mahon,
Ensg. John Colwell,
Thomas Crawford,
William Sharp.
No. 39.
Robert McConnell,
John McConnell,
James McConnell,
Donald McConnell.
No. 40.
Rev. John Craighead, [*(Formerly Preacher¹s Pew)]
Thomas Stockton,
Robert Cook,
Thomas Kincaid.
No. 41.
Capt. Matthew Ferguson, [listed as Nathan in Notes and Queries.]
Margaret Dixon,
John Chestnut.
No. 42.
James Eaton,
Rebecca Eaton,
Capt. Samuel Patton,
John Wilkison.
No. 43.
John Wilson,
Capt. James Gibson, [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
Thomas McConnell.
No. 44.
James Hindman,
Ensg. William Ramsey, [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
William Barr,
Charles Berry,
William Fullerton.
No. 45.
Capt. George Matthews,
[*James Matthews also shown in Notes and Queries.]
John Peak,
Martha Allen.
No. 46.
Robert Allison,
David Blair,
Robert Craig,
Robert Dixon.
No. 47.
Samuel Ligget,
William Ferguson,
Betsey Thomson,
Capt. William Huston.
No. 48.
Col. Robert Peebles, [*Rank not indicated in Notes and Queries.]
Moses Barnet,
John Kerr.
No. 49.
John Thomson,
Samuel Rhèa,
Josiah Allen,
William McClintock. [*McClintick in Notes and Queries.]
No. 50.
Oliver Culbertson,
William Gill,
Joseph Sivan.
No. 51.
Thomas Hoops,
George McElroy,
John McClellan,
Charles Kilcrease,
Robert Carrick
No. 52.
Henry Duncan,
Mary Kerr,
John Moore,
Alexander Spear.
112
THE ROCKY SPRING
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LIST OF PEW HOLDERS IN THE BRICK CHURCH, 1800.
of Rocky Spring at commencement of Rev. Francis Herron's ministry, 1800.
No. 1.
Mark Gregory,
William Kirkpatrick.
No. 2.
James Warden,
John Warden.
No. 3.
Robert Swan,
John McConnell
No. 4.
James McConnell.
No. 5.
Robert Shields,
Joseph Swan.
No. 6.
Isabella Matthews,
W. W. Lane,
Capt. Benjamin Ramsey,
William Kirkpatrick.
No. 7.
Capt. Samuel Patton,
Joseph Marshall.
No. 8.
Isaac Eaton,
John Gilmor.
No. 9.
Nicholas Patterson,
George McClellan.
No. 10.
Jane Craighead (pastors pew)
Rev. Francis Herron.
No. 11.
Robert Brotherton.
No. 12.
Col. Joseph Culbertson.
No. 13.
John Brackenridge,
Andrew Brackenridge.
No. 14.
Andrew Wilson,
Charles Wilson,
John Machan.
No. 15.
John Stewart,
David Arrell.
No. 16.
Samuel Brachenridge,
Andrew Lyttle.
No. 17.
Andrew Taylor,
Clarina McCalla.
No. 18.
James Brackenridge,
Samuel McKain.
No. 19.
Andrew Thomson.
No. 20.
Joseph Graham
William Archibald,
Robert Cresswell.
No. 21.
James Boyd,
George McElroy.
No. 22.
Col. Joseph Armstrong.
No. 23.
Samuel Wilson, (M. D.)
Henry Davis.
No. 24.
William Bolton,
John Wylie.
No. 25.
Matthew Gelvin.
No. 26.
Andrew Beard,
Cornelious Harper.
113
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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LIST OF PEW HOLDERS IN THE BRICK CHURCH, 1800. (cont.)
No. 27.
John Dormon,
Joseph Dooley.
No. 28.
Africans pew paid for
by James McCalmont
and Charles Cummins.
No. 29.
Samuel Nicholson.
No. 30.
Hugh Ferguson,
John Ferguson.
No. 31.
James Gillelland.
No. 32.
Robert Mitchell,
Andrew Murphy,
Mary Denis.
No. 33.
Robert Smith.
No. 34.
William Davis,
Robert Stewart.
No. 35.
Gen. John Rhea, (M. C.)
No. 36.
Capt Albert Torrence.
No. 37.
Charles Cummins.
No. 38.
Col. Samuel Culbertson.
No. 39.
Maj. James McCalmont.
No. 40.
Capt. Thomas Grier.
No. 41.
Capt. John McConnell,
Nathaniel McKinstrie.
No. 42.
Capt Robert Culbertson.
No. 43.
Moses Kirkpatrick,
Matthew Shields,
Michael Lane.
No. 44.
Capt William Huston.
No. 45.
William Marshall,
James Hendinan.
No. 46.
Vacant.
No. 47.
Joseph Dooly.
No. 48.
Samuel Nicholson.
No. 49.
John Chestnut.
No. 50.
Robert Anderson,
Isaac Parker.
No. 51.
William Beard,
Charles Allison.
No. 52.
William Beard, (Sen.)
No. 53.
Joseph Eaton,
Daniel Eckels.
No. 54.
John Wilson, (Adjt.)
Alexander Mears.
No. 55.
John Kerr,
Samuel Peebles.
No. 56.
Capt. Matthew Ferguson.
No. 57
Thomas Chestnut,
William Hay.
No. 58.
Lieut. Joseph Stevenson,
James Cooper.
114
THE ROCKY SPRING
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THE GRAVEYARD.
_____________
The following is a list of those buried in Rocky Spring graveyard so far as
tombstones have been erected, with year of birth and death so far as can be
ascertained:
Allen, Josiah, b 1772, d 1850
Allen, Susanah, b ‹, d 1842
Allen, William, b 1820, d 1843
Allen, Margaret, b 1812, d 1845
Anderson, Robert Herron, b 1805, d 1862
Anderson, Mary, b 1810, d 1890
Armstrong, Col. Joseph, b 1739, d 1811
Allison, Sarah, b 1811, d 1891
Bard, Martha, b 1787, d 1865
Bard, William, b 1762, d 1815
Bard, Margaret, b 1771, d 1835
Barr, Margaret, Jane, b 1827, d 1850
Beard, William, b 1795, d 1823
Beard, Robert, b 1800, d 1807
Beard, Robert, b 1769, d 1804
Beard, Elizabeth, b 1769, d 1842
Beard, George, b 1802, d 1873
Beard, Hugh, b 1857, d 1771
Beard, Sarah, b 1774, d1794
Beard, Martha, b 1755, d 1795
Beard, Agnes, b 1730, d 1810
Besore, Rachel, b 1812, d 1838
Besore, Balzer, b 1784, d 1833
Besore, Peter, b 1779, d 1854
Besore, Martha, b 1789, d 1855
Besore, Elizabeth, b 1787 d 1853
Besore, William, b 1815, d 1840
Besore, Peter, b 1814, d 1874
Besore, Amos K. b 1835, d 1857
Besore, Elizabeth, b 1814 d. 1839
Besore, John, b 1810 d 1889
Bishop, Melanchton, b 1861 d 1873
Brackenridge, James, b 1742, d 1809
Brackenridge, Elizabeth,b 1760, d 1835
Brackenridge, Rebecca, b 1810, d 1833
Brackenridge, Culbertson, b 1773, d 1832
Boyd, John, b ?, d 1770
Boyd, Mary, b ‹, d 1778
Brotherton, Samuel, b 1754, d 1839
Brotherton, Robert, b 1792, d 1849
Brotherton, Matilda, b 1804, d 1857
Burns, John, b 1681, d 1760
Craighead, Rev. John, b 1742, d 1799
Cummins, Charles, b 1744, d 1821
Cummins, Elizabeth, Boyd, b 1748, d 1802
115
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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THE GRAVEYARD. (cont.)
Cummins, Mary, b 1773, d 1790
Cummins, Elizabeth, b 1780, d 1792
Cummins, William, b 1782, d 1821
Cummins, Catharine, Patton, b 1783, d 1873
Cummins, Mary, b 1782, d 1804
Culbertson. Mary Finley, b 1781, d 1814
Culbertson, Mary Jane, b 1812, d 1815
Culbertson, Samuel, b 1815, d 1816
Culbertson, Elizabeth, b ‹, d 1802
Culbertson, Joseph, b ‹, d 1818
Culbertson, Margaret, b ‹, d 1838
Culbertson, Sarah, b 1800, d 1875
Culbertson, John, b 1803, d 1861
Culbertson, William E., b 1838, d 1865
Culbertson, Joseph, b 1840, d 1871
Culbertson, Clara M., b 1847, d 1862
Culbertson, Joseph, b 1837, d 1838
Culbertson, G. Francis, b 1850, d 1854
Culbertson, M. Simpson, b 1854, d 1859
Culbertson, Laura, b 1852, d 1859
Culbertson, R. Hays, b 1856, d 1859
Davis, William, b 1761, d 1823
Davis, Sarah, b 1761, d 1825
Deyarman, Jane Holmes, b 1757, d 1823
Deyarman, Henry, b 1751, d 1833
Dillon, William, b 1824, d 1891
Duncan, Mary H., b 1807, d 1828
Durborrow, John, b 1810, d 1826
Eckerman, Daniel, b 1786, d 1855
Eckerman, Elizabeth, b 1784, d 1827
Eckerman, Mary Gilvin, b 1800, d 1853
Ferguson, Hugh, b 1760, d 1834
Ferguson, Elizabeth, b ‹, d 1838
Finley, James, b 1739, d 1812
Finley, Jane, b 1745, d 1814
Gelvin, Mathew, b 1771, d 1847
Gelvin, Hannah, b 1777, d 1852
Gelvin, Mary Zimmerman, b 1816, d 1845
Gibson, Mary, b 17‹, aged 71 years
Gillan, William, b 1797, d 1867
Gillan, Sarah, b 1796, d 1868
Gillan, Elizabeth, b 1828, d 1866
Gillan, James, b 1836, d 1839
Gillan, Jane, b 1824, d 1826
Gilmor, John, b 1760, d 1823
Gilmor, Elizabeth, Patton, b 1770, d 1838
Gilmor, Robert, b 1793, d 1843
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THE GRAVEYARD. (cont.)
Gilmor, Mary, b 1805, d 1867
Gilmor, James, b 1812, d 1875
Gilmor, William, b 1809, d 1875
Gilmor, Joseph, b 1807, d 1879
Gilmor, John, b 1802, d 1889
Gilmor, Eliza, b 1800, d 1891
Grier, Michael, b 1767, d 1844
Grier, Elizabeth, b 1783, d 1855
Grier, Thomas, b 1801, d 1818
Grier, Margaret, b 1802, d 1822
Harbison, Adam, b 1754, d 1824
Harbison, Martha, b 1766, d 1840
Harbison, Thomas, b 1799 d 1861
Hudson, Mary, b ‹, d 1872
Huston, William, b 1755, d 1823
Huston, Margaret, b 1767, d 1823
Jamison, Jane Beard, b 1775, d 1799
Kirkpatrick, Moses, b 1769, d 1846
Kirkpatrick, Alexander, H. b 1809, d 1850
Lindsay James, b 1788, d 1823
Lindsay, Margaret, b 1788, d 1840
Lightner, Sarah, A. b 1829, d 1856
Lightner, Sarah, b‹, d 1895
McCabe, Eliza, b 1820, d 1862
McCalmont, James, b 1684, d 1780
McCalmont, Jane, b 1694, d 1794
McCalmont, Major James, b 1737, d 1809
McCalmont, Charles, Elizabeth, and Isabella, b ‹, d ‹
children of James and Jane,
McClellan, George, b 1761, d 1823
McClellan, Lydia, b 1772, d 1840
McClellan, William, G. b 1790, d 1869
McClelland, John, b 1805, d 1859
McClelland, Martha, A. b 1814, d 1883
McConnell, Donnald, b 1701, d 1776
McConnell, Robert, b 1702, d 1777
McConnell, Rosannah, b ‹, d 1770
McConnell, Capt. John, b 1746, d 1817
McConnell, Grizelda Stewart, b 1796, d 1832
McConnell Rachel Cummins, b 1801, d 1831
McElhare, Maria, b 1796, d 1866
McKinney, David, b 1767, d 1835
McKinney, Eleanor, b 1772, d 1825
Machan, John, b 1730, d 1805
Machan, Mary, b 1728, d 1803
Machan, Elizabeth, b 1750, d 1804
Marshall, Isabella Patton, b 1773, d 1862
Miller, Margaret, b 1809, d 1892
117
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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THE GRAVEYARD. (cont.)
Newton, Anna, b 1789, d 1861
Nicholson, Jane Cooper, b 1768, d 1796
Nicholson, Wm. Cooper, b 1795, d 1798
Poe, John, b 1796, d 1862
Poe, Isabella, b 1806, d 1863
Poe, Thomas, b 1840, d 1859
Poe, James, b 1841, d 1866
Patton, Martha, b 1784, d 1869
Patton, Rebecca, b 1776, d 1861
Robison, Agnes, B. b 1794, d 1823
Robertson, William, b 1752, d 1796
Robertson, Elizabeth, b 1750, d 1780
Robertson, James, b 1788, d 1793
Stewart, Martha, b 1756, d 1791
Stewart, Martha, b 1776, d 1779
Stevenson, Joseph, b ‹, d 1779
Stevenson, Margaret, b ‹, d 1779
Thomson, Alexander, b 1722, d 1800
Thomson, Elizabeth, b 1727, d 1815
Vance, G., b‹, d 1793
Wade, John, b 1710, d 1790
Wilson, John, b 1750, d 1826
Wilson, Sarah, b 1752, d 1848
Wilson, John, Jr. b 1791, d 1818
Wilson, Alexander, b 1804, d 1828
Wilson, James, b 1791, d 1847
Wilson, Robert, b 1803, d 1857
Wilson, Moses, b 1781, d 1861
Wilson, David, b 1784, d 1862
Wilson, William, b 1794, d 1867
Wilson, Sarah, b 1795, d 1871
Wilson Col. Stephen, b 1777, d 1823
Wilson, Charles, b 1771, d 1823
Wilson, Mary, b 1771, d 1831
White, Elizabeth, b 1771, d 1816
CONTENTS.
___________________
Introductory 9
History of Rocky Spring Church‹Part I. 11
" " " " - Part II. 22
" " " " - Part III. 31
Sketches of Deceased Ministers 41
Presbyterianism and Civil Liberty 60
The Historic Families of the Cumberland 73
Valley
American Presbyterian Church in America 87
Some Lessons from the History of this Church 97
Old Families of Rocky Spring 102
List of Pew Holders, 1768‹1794 109
List of Pew Holders, 1800 112
The Graveyard 114
FINIS