A history of the First Presbyterian church of Carlisle, Pa.

Front matter

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CARLISLE, PA.

ehuroh, outside, 70X51 ft. j^vbdience I^oonro, §9X^6.

Seats, below, Jf.00 (Persons .

Preface

The following History was commenced about 1858, near the time at which the First Presbyterian Congregation of Carlisle celebrated its One Hundredth Anniversary. Soon afterwards, the Presbytery of Harrisburg with which that Congregation was then connected, requested the pastor of each church under its care to prepare and deposit with the Stated Clerk of Presbytery a detailed history of its origin and progress. Such a narrative, amounting to about Sixty pages, was then prepared for the church of Carlisle and was reported tso Presbytery.

When the Centennial year of the Republic was in progress, and in response to a recommendation of the General Assembly Historical Discourses were delivered in each congregation, the writer was called upon to prepare and publish an Address relating to the Presbytery of Carlisle, and another relating to the church of Carlisle. Instead of publishing the latter it was thought preferable to prepare and give to the public all that could be collected from tradition, old papers and more general histories relating to that church. The present work was accordingly prepared and is now published. It has been a labor of love and is now offered to the people to whom the writer once ministered, and to all in every part of our widely extended country who have been connected with that church, with a fervent prayer, that what is good in it may be perpetuated and augmented by this reference to former times.

Carlisle, June 28. 1877. C. P. WING.

Place of Meeting — Indians— Kittatinny Valley — Scotch-Irish — Reasons for Emigration — Church Standards — Period — Controversies — European Usages — Choice of Pastors.

Chapter II. Organization

Original Settlement — Titles to Lands — First Preachers — Preaching Stations — Division of the Settlement — Meeting House — Supplies — Arrearages — Character of the People — Homes — Dress — Domestic Life — Schools — Location of the Church — Building — Assemblies — Worship — Indians — Communions — Communicants — Deficiency of Records — Glebe.

Chapter III. Thomson's Pastorate

Trials for Ordmation — Difficulty with Civil Authorities — Installation — State of Religion — Schism in the General Church — Controversies — Cases of Disciphne — Lower Pennsborough given up — Resignation — Death of Mrs. Thomson — Disputes and Jealousies — Stale of the Congregation — Elders.

Chapter IV. Two Congregations

French War — Flight of the Settlers— Expedition to Kittanning — New Side Congregation at Carlisle — Steel's and Duffield's Settlements — Two Meeting houses— Ordination of Elders — Steel Attached to a Philadelphia Presbytery — Duffield called to Philadelphia— Settlement at Monaghan — Steel's Settlement at Lower Pennsborough — Indian War — Retaliations — Duffied's Mission to the Indians.

Chapter V. Two Congregations Continued

Duffie d's and Steel's Meeting houses — Deed of Ground — Charter — Names of Members — Duffield's call to Philadelphia — Acceptance and Re-

VI CONTENTS.

moval — Opposition to him — Effort to Recall him — Burning of his Meeting house — Elders — Armstrong — Steel and his People — Patriotism — Magaw — Irvine — Blaine — Montgomery — Wilson — Steel's Death. CHAPTER VI.

DR. DAVIDSON'S PASTORATE.

Mr. Steel's Congregation — Founding of Dickinson College — Dr. Nisbet and Dr. Davidson — Two Congregations united — "Pastor and Doctor" — House of Worship completed — Preachers — "Whiskey Rebellion" — General Assembly at Carlisle — Second Charter — Church Usages — College Building — Death of Dr. Nisbet — Dr. Davidson as Pastor and Principal — His Death and Funeral.

Chapter VII

MR. DUFFI eld's PASTORATE.

Henry R. Wilson's Labors in Carlisle — Call and Proceedings thereupon — George Duffield's Arrival — Settlement — Session — Resolutions — Church Regulations — Opposition — Discouragements — Revivals — Additions — Officers — Family — Psalms — Temperance and Sabbath — Dickinson College — Repairs and Building — Sale of Glebe — Change of Style of Preaching — Book on Regeneration — Condemned by Presbytery — Charges against him — Trial — New Church — Decision — Revival of 1831 — Resignation and Removal — Congregation

Chapter VIII

MINISTRY OF MESSRS. SPROLE AND NEWLIN.

Session — Relations to Presbytery — Call to Mr. Sprole — Objections of Presbytery — Division of the General Church — Union with the Synod of Pennsylvania — Excision by Carlisle Presbytery — Success of Mr. Sprole — Members of Session — Removal to Washington — Call to;E. J. Newlin — His Pastorate.

CHAPTER IX. DF. wing's PASTORATE

Call to Rev. C. P. Wing— His Previous Life— Settlement— Sabbath School — Soldiers — Debt — Periodical Publications — Youth — Preaching — Temperance — Contributions — Organ — Centenary Celebration — Teaching and Literary Work — Prosperity — Isolation of the Church — Repairs — Protracted Meetings — Union — Psalmist — Elders — War — Efforts at Reunion — Limited Eldership — Memorial Chapel — Temperance — Revival — Resignation — Additions and Contributions — Special Occupations. CHAPTER X.

MR. VANCE'S SETTLEMENT, AND CONCLUSION. Preaching of Rev. J. S. Vance — Previous Life — Call — Revival — Church Repairs — Installation — Conclusion.

Chapter I. Introduction

The First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle had its first place of meeting on the bank of the Conodoguinet about two miles west of the present town. It was then the centre of a large district of country, bounded on the North and South by the ranges of mountains which form the Valley, and on the East and West by the extent of the settlements. The most eastern portion of the Valley does not appear to have been the first settled. About the time the white people began to cross the Susquehanna, the Proprietaries laid off between seven and eight thousand acres of land extending eleven miles from the river, and between the Conodoguinet and the Yellow Breeches Creeks, for a manor on which settlements were forbidden.* Accordingly when this region first became known to the whites, the Indians who occupied it appear to have been principally remnants of several tribes. They belonged to a Confederacy living between the Delaware and the Susquehanna and on those rivers,

^Manors were tracts of land reserved from ordinary sales and held by the Proprietaries as private property. Lowther or Paxton manor w^as kept back partially in fulfillment of a promise to the Indians, that if they would occupy it tliey should have a home here. Rupf s History of Dauphin, Cumberland, &c., Counties, pp. 355 — 6. Chambers' Irish and Scotch Early Settlers, p. 55.

2 INTRODUCTION.

who went by the name of Leni Lenape, or the " Original People," in distinction from more recent tribes within and around them. By the whites they were usually called, from the principal rivers within their territory, the Delaware or Susquehanna Indians. A kind of allegiance was claimed from them by the more powerful Confederacy of the Six Nations, who lived in New York.^ In conformity with a peculiar policy and usage these Leni Lenape had admitted a number of remnants of tribes to reside on their territory, for whose good behavior they had become responsible. About 1698 a few families of the Shawanese, who had been driven from Florida, received permission to settle on both sides of the Susquehanna, and with the consent of the Proprietaries took possession of this part of the Valley. In consequence of some disorders committed by their young men, they became fearful of the Six Nations and about 1727 a large portion of them removed to the Ohio, and fell under the influence of the French. Anxious to detach them from this influence, the Proprietary in 1732 urged them to return and as a motive promised to secure for them a large tract of land West of the Susquehanna, as a permanent home. Not many of them however complied with this invitation, and yet the earliest settlers used to tell of several Indian villages in the Eastern part of the County, near the Susquehanna, and on the Conodoguinet, the Letort and the Yellow Breeches Creeks. f Two or three such villages were on the trail which ran from

*Day's Hist. Collections of the State of Pennsylvania, pp. 5 — 7. Rtipp's History of Cumberland, &c., Counties, pp. 350 — 52. fDitto, pp. 351—5.

INDIANS. 3

the gap of the mountains at Mount Holly, past the head of Letort Spring over the Conodoguinet to the gaps of the North Mountain.* About ten years before (1720) James LeTort had formed a trading post on the bank of the stream which bears his name at a point near the Eastern confines of the present Borough. f In this vicinity the first white settlement within the territory now covered by the County of Cumberland, appears to have been formed. No single tribe of Indians could claim exclusive jurisdiction. The Shawanese, the Delawares, and the Tuscaroras, with refugees from other tribes mingled and lived together without much distinction. The Shawanese were the most numerous, and the town on the Conodoguinet was said to have belonged to them, but that on the Letort probably belonged to the Mingoes (mixed people), as the Iroquois or people belonging to the Six Nations were called when they lived away from their special territory ; and for a time it may have been the residence of the celebrated Logan. In consequence of this variety of Indian tribes who occupied the Valley, numerous claims were set up, and it became difficult for the State authorities to make purchases of land. Each tribe represented by residents here, as well as both the great Confederacies which confessedly had paramount authority, demanded remuneration. As peace was far more valuable than the price put upon the lands, and as the Proprietaries were willing to deal justly by all who had any semblance of rights, the lands

'^Rupp's History of Cumberland, &c.. Counties, p. 352 \Rupp, p. 34.

4 INTRODUCTION.

were actually purchased a number of times and from more than one contracting party. It was not until some time after immigrants began to cross the river, that these Indian claims were so far extinguished that the Proprietaries felt warranted in giving legal titles to the lands.* Immigrants however were not only permitted but encouraged to take up their residence here. The authorities were not displeased to see a hardy and enterprising class of inhabitants forming a rampart against some dangers which were beginning to threaten their colony not only from the savages, but from the rival jurisdiction of Maryland. The Indians were quieted by the assurance that their unadjusted claims would be respected and amply satisfied, and to the settlers themselves a kind of temporary ''licenses" was given which availed until complete titles could be issued. It was not from the settlers at this time nor on any territory within the present County of Cumberland that lands were occupied without permission or that any subsequent expulsions by the civil authorities had to be effected. f

The valley over so large a portion of which this congregation originally extended was then called the Kitochtinny or the North Valley. It is a part of a much more extended one traceable from the South-western corner of Vermont, across the Hudson at Newburgh, the Delaware at Easton, the Susquehanna at Harrisburgh, the Potomac at Harpers' Ferry, the James at Lynchburgh, and along the Tennessee into the northern

SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLERS. 5

part of Alabama.* From a disposition to give favorite English names to the new country, and following the example of their more eastern brethren who had transferred such names as York, Lancaster, Berks, Chester, &c., from the North of England to their counties, that portion of the Valley which belongs to the State west of the Susquehanna received the name of Cumberland.

The first settlements were made probably not earlier than the years 1729-30. They were exclusively of that class which has since received the name of Scotch- IrisJi, from the fact that they were principally descendants of Scotchmen who had for several generations resided in Ireland. Some indeed are known to have emigrated directly from Scotland, but most of them were either directly from Ireland, or from the more eastern part of this country which had been settled from Ireland. Not unlikely the character of the "ca^nny Scotch" had received some modification from their residence and intercourse with the more " mercurial Irish." We have no evidence that within the limits of the present County of Cumberland, persons of any other nationality were found for a whole generation. For the ten years extending from 1730 to 1740 the number of these immigrants was so large that leading men in the province were apprehensive of a complete revolution in the character of the colony. t They were of a condition in life somewhat

*Kauta-tin chunk, or the Main Mountain, gradually softened into Kitochtinny, and Kittatinny. This last designation it still often bears, but generally it goes by the name of the Blue or the North Mountain. Rupp, p. 210. Chambers^ pp. 58 — 59.

6 INTRODUCTION.

different from that of their fellow countrymen who had come over at an earlier period. They were not driven from their native land by persecution or by the desire to find freedom of worship, so much as by the hope of improving their worldly condition.* It was almost impossible for them to acquire the fee simple of lands there, they were liable to extreme exactions and oppressions when they attempted to rent lands which their own thrift and labor had rendered valuable, the laws of marriage were such as to imperil their domestic peace and the legitimacy of their children, and the school regulations were such as to embarrass them much in the religious education of their families. The glowing accounts which the colonial agents sent among them respecting the lands and the privileges of these colonies, were sufficient to induce all who had means and opportunity to leave, to break away from kindred and homes to find a new establishment in this Western world. The authorities of Pennsylvania were especially liberal in their promises, and a number of circumstances combined to attract these immigrants to this valley. Its fertile soil, copious springs, winding streams and salubrious climate, its recent evacuation by most of its original inhabitants, and above all its exclusive possession by set-

■5^ At an earlier period many poor people had come over by selling their future services to pay for their passage, and these were farmed out to the colonists for a term of years and were called Redemptorists. On the other hand these Scotch-Irish settlers in the Cumberland Valley, came with means to buy land and to live upon for awhile, and often with their schoolmasters, and some books and a trade. Chambers', as above. Dr. Creigk'?, Discourse at the reunion of Presbyterians in the Cumberland Valley, 1874.

PRESBYTERIANISM. /

tiers of like faith and nationality, presented inducements which they were not slow to appreciate. And yet a desire to build up and enjoy a church system according to their faith and the customs of their forefathers was prominent among their motives for emigration. They were thorough Presbyterians and would have been as ready as their forefathers to sacrifice their lives and fortunes for their peculiar principles, had they been called to such an alternative. It was a period of religious fervor in a portion of their church at home as well as in this country. A large part had indeed declined in Scotland into dead Moderatism and in Ireland into Arianism ; and the ministers of kindred churches in the colonies shared in the spirit of the countries from which they had emigrated ; but everywhere there were reactions and revivals which betokened a vigorous life within.* The " Marrow controversy " which resulted in the Scottish Secession, f the Irish Schism in which an unsound element was indignantly rejected and cast forth, and the labors of such men in this country as the Tennants, the Blairs and the Craigheads indicated the approach of better times. Something of the rigidity and severity of the mother churches were advantageously laid aside on account of the necessities of an infant church. Kindred elements from England, Wales and New England were not rejected for slight differences in ecclesiastical order, as long as the es-

*5. D. Alexander's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, pp. 316 22. Dr. E. H. GilleWs History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, pp. 47 58. Dr. C. Hodge's Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church, pp. 22ss.

\Hetherington's History of the Church of Scot ;nd. pp. 344-5) 348-

O INTRODUCTION.

seiitials of the Calvinistic creeds were preserved. There is reason for believing that no formal confession of faith was adopted by the original Presbyteries and Synods of the American Church,"^ Whatever may have been understood (and we know that verbal assurances were freely given which gave full satisfaction respecting the orthodoxy and order of all church officers), it is plain that much liberality was exercised. It was rather for vindication before the world and for the satisfaction of the civil authorities, than for their own fellowship that any appeal was made to the Westminster Articles. About the time of the first settlement of this Valley however, began to be felt the need of some security against the lax views of many ministers from Ireland from which most of their supplies came. Accordingly, in 1729, the Adopting Act had been passed unanimously in the Synod which was then the supreme judicatory of the church, in which it was agreed that all who were then members and all who should afterwards be admitted, should " declare their agreement in and approbation of the Confession of Faith with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, as being in all the essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine." It was, however, provided that " in case any minister or candidate shall have any scruple with respect to any article, he should declare his sentiments to the Presbytery or Synod, which should notwithstandmg admit him, if it should judge his scruple or mistake to

'^'/lodges Const. Hist pp. 104—5, Gillctt, p. 53SS.

STRICT SUBSCRIPTIONS. 9

be only about articles not essential and necessary to doctrine, worship, or government." Six years afterward, to prevent some misunderstandmgs, the Synod declared, that as a matter of fact " the Synod had adopted and did still adhere to the Westminster Confession, Catechisms and Directory without the least variation or alteration, and without any regard to the distinctions." or scruples which they allowed for in others. The terms of the Adopting Act however remained as the rule by which the ecclesiastical bodies were governed in the reception of ministers and candidates, and the permanent witness of the liberal spirit of the early church of this country.* Even among those who were directly from the mother churches of Scotland and Ireland all were by no means zealous for a strict subscription. Some of the most ardent opponents of every attempt to require such a subscription were among the Scotch-Irish ministers. None of them however asked for any relaxation of terms on their own account, but only in the interest of general liberty, and it was precisely on this point that a large part of the differences arose which gave rise to the first great schism in the Presbyterian church. The great majority of the American church in this respect has differed from the Scottish and Irish churches, and never yet has any party in it succeeded in changing the fundamental law which requires of intrants into its ministry and eldership, simply a sincere reception and adoption ^' of the Confession of faith as containing the system of

^Gillett^ pp. 47 — 58, Hodge, pp. 151SS. Records of the Presbyterian Church, pp. 92, 125.

lO INTRODUCTION.

doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures," and their " approbation of the government and discipline of the Presbyterian church.'"''

We may also notice that the period at which these churches were founded, was a remarkable one in the political world. George the Second had commenced his reign in 1727, and Thomas and John Penn had come over to this country and were acting as Proprietaries. The oppressive laws under which the Presbyterians of Ireland and Scotland had been impoverished and driven from their native land had been repealed, and yet enough of injustice remained in those laws combined with the recollection of former persecutions, to produce in the hearts of these emigrants an undying and unyielding hatred of all tyranny in church or state.

Even at this early period too there had commenced a heated controversy in the more Eastern churches, which soon extended to this region, regarding revivals of religion as the true work of God in spite of their accompanying disorders, and the duty of examining with more strictness than before into the evidences of piety in candidates for the ministry and for the communion. f Scarcely had this church been organized before tokens of this controversy made their appearance in it. The ministers sent to them as supplies were men who then and afterwards were warmly enlisted on one side or the other of this controversy, we cannot doubt that they imparted a portion of their zeal to their hearers. It was

"^ Hodge, pp. 170SS. Gillett^ pp. 47 — 58. Bib. Repert., 1S69. \Hodge's Const. Hist. Part II. Chap. V. pp. 219 ss.

EUROPEAN USAGES. I I

not long before this party spirit began to bring forth its fruits here.

It was natural however that even those most inclined to adapt their ecclesiastical arrangements to new circumstances, should in general conform to the customs of the country from which they came. This was evident especially in the Territorial principle which they applied to their congregations. It was agreed that no two houses of worship in the country should be built nearer to each other than ten miles, and numerous instances are on record of what were called ''perambulations," by which these distances were measured. When it was proposed to erect a new house of worship persons were selected by Presbytery to pass over the distance between the nearest existing place of meeting and the spot selected for a new one and report how many miles it was from actual measurement. Ministers too were expected to superintend the religious education of children in the schools after the habit of the old country, sometimes by themselves opening such a school, but in any case by securing the public instruction of the pupils in the Catechisms. The standard of education for ministers was maintained as high as in older countries. This was in some cases a matter of difficulty in consequence of the want of higher institutions of learning. Every candidate for licensure was required either to produce a diploma as a graduate of some College, or to show by his examination that his acquirements were equivalent to those demanded in a Collegiate course : and it was on this point that the two great parties in the

12 INTRODUCTION.

Church found an occasion for one of their most serious controversies. Some of the schools opened by Tennant and Smith and Blair professed to supply the means of a most thorough ministerial education, and they were offended when their certificates were not accepted as equivalent to the diplomas of a New England or Scottish college. It was agreed however among all parties that those who applied for ordination were to give satisfactory evidence that they were possessed of an education equivalent to that of a Bachelor of Arts.'''

The right of the people to choose their own ministers however was asserted with more than usual positiveness. Not only were they to be elected by a majority of the legal votes in the congregation, certified carefully before Presbytery, but on the day of their installation the presiding minister made proclamation before the church door as he entered, that even then every one was at liberty to bring forward any objection to the proposed proceeding.f If no such objection appeared, the parties were debarred from urging at any subsequent period what was then known to them. The union thus formed between pastor and people was subject to dissolution when Presbytery became aware that it was unprofitable or unacceptable to either party, but it was understood that no slight causes were to interrupt a connection which partook of the sacredness of a marriage.

^Records of the Presbyterian Church, pp. 144-5. Gillett^ pp. 6S-71.

fThis was a usage, derived from I know not what origin, not from any law or written enactment ; but it was a practice often mentioned in the minutes of Presbyteries.

CHAPTER 11.

ORGAMZATION.

The first settlements in this valley were, as we have seen, in its central and western parts. The very first of which we have any notice (after the transient Indian traders), were four brothers, James, Robert, Joseph and Benjamin Chambers, who about or before 1730 took up lands west of the Susquehanna. Not only because oi^ the reservation of the eastern part of the valley as a Proprietary manor made about this time, but from preference they made settlements at different points further on.* ''J^'^^s settled at the head of Green Spring near Newville, Robert at the head of Middle Spring near Shippensburgh, and Joseph and Benjamin at the confluence of Falling Spring and Conococheague creeks where Chambersburg now is."t Near the same time James Silvers, William Trindle and others made purchases not far from the present site of Mechanicsburgh.|| Such locations show what must have been the direction of these first settlements. All the favorite positions on the principal streams and springs and Indian trails were soon seized upon. As the Indian title to the lands was still in process of adjustment, no deeds were then given or

^Hon. Geo. Chainbers^ in Riipp^ p. 463.

were entered on public records. Settlements however were urged forward by the Proprietaries and their agents, for such resolute and hardy people were likely to form a secure defence against threatened invasions from Maryland, and the Indians were assured that their claims would be equitably satisfied. An "inception of title" was in the meantime given in the form of licenses, which could afterwards be exchanged for deeds. "^ In 1736 a treaty was concluded with the Six Nations by which all the lands on the South of the Kittatinny Hills were ceded to the Proprietaries and the controversy with Maryland was by mutual consent suspended, so that in January, 1737, the Land office of Pennsylvania was opened and the lands on the west of the river were sold on the usual terms. f It was about this time (1729 — 48) that the tide of immigration from Ireland into Pennsylvania was at its highest, so that at the close of that period there v/ere in this county not less than eight hundred taxables, five or six thousand inhabitants, and seven or eight Presbyterian congregations. ||

As early as 1734 these settlers had become numerous enough to send up "supplications" to the Presbytery of Donegal for "supplies of preachers." The designation given in the Records of Presbytery to these petitioners is not very precise, for at first there was probably no house of worship erected among them and perhaps no permanent place of meeting agreed upon. They are called simply, "the people over the river," or "the set-

"^Chambers' Irish and Scotch Early Settlers, pp. 59-60. ^CJiainbers, pp. 59 60. Rupp, p. 30. WChainbers, pp. 61 -3.

SUPPLIES. 15

tlement over' the river." Alexander Craighead, then just licensed to preach was ''ordered" (Oct. 6, 1 734,) to supply them "two or three Sabbaths in November," and in April 4th, 1735, he was again appointed to supply said people "the next two ensuing Sabbaths,"* and John Thomson "at least two Sabbaths before the next meeting of Presbytery."! Rev. William Bartram of Paxton and Derry, was also ordered (June 12, 1735,) "to supply the people over the river two Sabbaths before the next

^A. Craighead was the son of Rev. Thomas Craighead, mentioned in a subsequent note. He was licensed to preach by Donegal Presbytery on the same day on which the above order to supply " over the river" was given him ; and he was ordained and installed over the congregation of Middle Octorara, Lancaster Co., Pa., June 20, 1735. He became a warm friend of Whitefield and of " the revival," and a powerful preacher. His zeal involved him in many conflicts with his brethren. He went with the New Side, but on his failure to induce the New York Synod to adopt the "Solemn League and Covenant,'' he withdrew and took part m introducing " Reformed Presbyterian ism" into this country. He returned to the N. Y. Synod and was a member of New Castle Presbytery (New Side) in 1753, but was dismissed in 1755 to form the new Pi-esbytery of Hanover, Va. He had probably become a resident in Virginia somewhere about 1749, and remained there until after Braddock's defeat in 1755, when he removed with most of his congregation to Sugar Creek, Mecklenburgh Co., N. C, where he continued as a minister until March 1766 when he died, "leaving behind him the affectionate remembrance of his abundant and useful labors." His descendants are numerous and highly respectable in the Southern and Western States. Memoir of the Craighead Family, by J. G. Craighead, D. D., 1776, pp.41- 5 1.

\Rev, John Thomson, came in 1715 as a probationer from Ireland, was ordained and installed over the congregation of Lewes, Del., in 1717, left ihere in 1729, and after a brief stay at Middle Octorara was installed in 1732 at Chestnut Level. He was very prominent on the Old Side during the rupture of 1 741, was an able and intelligent minister, and lived to gain the respect even of his opponents. He was dismissed from his charge at Chestnut Level in 1744, and spent the closing years of his life in Virginia where he died in 1753. He favored the reunion but did not lire to witness it. Webster^ pp. 355-6.