THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XIX, HISTORICAL CHURCHES, 1710 TO 1744. from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 1876 and 1905* editions.. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Donna Bluemink. dbluemink@cox.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Transcriber's note: Liberty has been taken with numbering footnotes so as to include all footnotes from both the 1876 and 1905 editions, plus any additional text and pictures in the 1905 edition. All 1905 material will be noted with an asterisk. Note: Where names differ, the 1905 edition spelling is applied. ___________________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER XIX HISTORICAL CHURCHES 1710 TO 1744 Population previous to 1710. -Churches between 1710 and 1720. -St. James' Episcopal. -The graveyard. -Whitefield and Zinzendorf. -Churches established. -Whitefield at Neshaminy. -Second visit. -The "Great Awakening." -David Brainard. -The "old" and "new side." -Division at Neshaminy. -The Log college and William Tennent. -Samuel Blair. -Charles Beatty. -Neshaminy church founded. - Nathaniel Irwin. -Mr. Belville. -Southampton Baptist church. -John Watts, Samuel Jones. -Mr. Vanhorne, Mr. Montanye. -Deep Run church. -Francis McHenry. -James Grier. -Newtown church. -Hugh Carlisle, James Boyd. -Revolutionary. -Robert D. Morris. -New Britain Baptist church. -Child of a religious quarrel. -Growden gives ground. -Joseph Eaton. -Reconciliation with Montgomery. -Strength of church. -Ministers' names. -Tohickon Reformed church.* -Founded 1740-43.* -Rev. Jacob Riesz.* -1749.* -John Andrew Strassburger, most famous pastor.* -Twelve pastors in 122 years.* The population of Bucks county was composed almost exclusively of English Friends previous to 1710, if we except the feeble settlement of Rhode Island Baptists, at Cold spring in Bristol township. Other sects and denominations came in at a later period; in their order, the English Episcopalians, the Dutch Protestants, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, the Welsh Baptists, and the German Lutherans and Reformed. Each denomination marked a different people, and introduced a new element into provincial civilization. Between 1710 and 1720 three denominational churches were established, St. James' Episcopal, at Bristol, what is now the Bensalem Presbyterian church, and the Low Dutch Reformed church of Northampton and Southampton. St. James' Episcopal church, built in 1711, and dedicated the 12th of July, 1712, owes its foundation to the "Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts." The lot was the gift of "Anthony Burton, gentleman," and Queen Anne interested herself enough in the feeble parish to give it a solid silver communion service, which was stolen in after years. The first pastor was Reverend John Talbot, chaplain in the English navy, an attached to the ship in which George Keith first came to America. He and Talbot founded St. Mary's church at Burlington, and the latter used to come across the river to preach at Bristol before the church was built. He officiated until 1727, and was succeeded by the following rectors: Robert Wyman, 1733, William Lindsay, 1739, Colin Campbell, 1741, Mr. Odell, 1768, Mr. Lewis, 1776, Henry Waddell, 1806, Richard D. Hall, 1813, Mr. Jacquette, 1822, Albert A. Miller, J. V. E. Thorn, William H. Reese, 1825, George [Greenbury*] W. Ridgely, Thomas J. Jackson, William S. Perkins, 1833, Mr. Bartow, 1855, Joseph W. Pearson, 1857, D. W. W. Spear, 1861, Doctor John H. Drumm, in 1863 [to 1875*], John C. Brooks, 1876-77 , [Joseph W. Lee, 1878 to 1885, William Leggett Kolbe, 1887 to 1891, and William Brice Morrow, 1892.*] Doctor Drumm was a chaplain in the army during the late Civil war, and served in the campaign on the Peninsula, and is now rector of a parish in Rhode Island. The parish of St. James suffered during the Revolutionary war. The church was dismantled and turned into a cavalry stable, the graves trodden under foot, and the congregation scattered. After the war it was used for a barn. It was without a rector or regular service for thirty-one years, and until Mr. Waddell, of Trenton, was called to officiate twice a month, in 1806, for £50 a year. This venerable parish has passed through many tribulations, but survived them all. The gifts of its early patrons have been mostly squandered, yet it possesses valuable temporalities. The church edifice cost $13,000 in 1857, and the congregation owns a comfortable rectory, erected a few years ago. Anthony Burton was one of the most active in the organization of the church, and John Rowland gave a lot on Mill street, in 1715, to build a rectory upon. Some of the early rectors received but £100 a year. The grave yard is one of the oldest in the county, and in it lie the remains of some of Bristol's earliest inhabitants. Near the grave of Captain Green, who carried the first American flag to China, was buried Captain Sharp, Tenth United States infantry, who, while stationed just above Bristol, fell in a duel with the quarter-master of his regiment, in 1798. Sharp was courting Miss Sarah McElroy, whose father kept the Cross Keys hotel in Bristol many years. The duel grew out of a difficulty in relation to the lady, and was fought on the farm now owned by Charles T. Iredell, just opposite the borough limits. Sharp fell at the second fire. The lady never married. The next thirty-five years were marked by unusual religious excitement and activity. It was during this period that the celebrated Whitefield visited America, and stirred up the hearts of the people to their lost condition, and Zinzendorf and his disciples from Hernhutt settled in the wilderness on the beautiful Lehigh. The religious fervor prevailing through the provinces manifested itself in this county, and churches multiplied rapidly. The Neshaminy Presbyterian church was founded about 1720, possibly before, Southampton Baptist church in 1730, the Presbyterian church at Newtown in 1734, the church in the midst of the Scotch-Irish settlements along the Deep run in Bedminster about the same time, and the New Britain Baptist church, an offshoot of Montgomery, and the child of a religious quarrel, in 1744. In the establishment of these early churches, the parent of denominational religion in this county, we read in plain characters the history of the immigration of the period, for places of religious worship only kept pace with the spiritual wants of the population. It was during this period that the Brainards, with courage and self-denial equal to the early Jesuit missionaries, labored among the Indians in the Forks of Delaware, and now and then came down into the more settled parts of the county to preach, at Neshaminy, Newtown, and elsewhere. In 1726 Reverend William Tennent, one of the great lights of his generation, was called to the Neshaminy church, and the same year he established the Log college on the York road, half a mile below Hartsville, which for years was the only school south of New England at which a young man could be fitted for the ministry. The visit of Reverend George Whitefield to America, in 1739, gave a new impetus to the religious enthusiasm already prevailing. He landed at Philadelphia the 2d of November, and a week afterward Mr. Tennent rode down from Neshaminy, on horseback, to welcome the great evangelist, who writes in his diary, that he was "much comforted by the coming of one Mr. Tennent, an old gray-headed disciple and soldier of Jesus Christ, who keeps an academy about twenty miles from Philadelphia." On his return from New York, near the close of the month, Mr. Whitefield came by way of Neshaminy, to visit Mr. Tennent. Leaving Trenton on the morning of November 22d, he traveled across the country on horseback, in company with several friends, arriving at the church about noon. He was announced to preach there, and on his arrival found about three thousand people gathered in the meeting-house yard. He addressed them in words that melted the great audience down, and caused many to cry aloud. The meeting was closed by an exhortation by Gilbert Tennent, the singing of a psalm, and a blessing. Mr. Whitefield went home with Mr. Tennent and staid all night, of whom he writes in his diary: "He entertained us like one of the ancient patriarchs. His wife to me seemed like Elizabeth, and he like Zachary; both, as far as I can find, walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, blameless." In the morning he started for Philadelphia, where he arrived that afternoon, stopping long enough at Abington to preach to two thousand people from a porch window of the meeting-house, and "although the weather was cold they stood very patiently in the open air." He returned to Abington in April, and preached to between three and four thousand people (1). (1) He says, in his journal, there were near a thousand horses tied about the meeting-house when he preached at Neshaminy, and it struck him favorable that the people did not sit on their horses as in England. April 23, 1745, Mr. Whitefield made a second visit to Neshaminy. Leaving Philadelphia about eight a. m., accompanied by several friends, he arrived at three, having "baited at a friend's in the midway." That afternoon he preached in the meeting-house yard to about 500 people, and "great numbers were much melted down." That evening he rode to Montgomery, eight miles, where he staid all night, and the next morning continued on to Skippack, sixteen miles further, where he preached to 2,000 persons, passing through what "was seemingly a wilderness part of the country." The 7th of May Mr. Whitefield again came into the county, crossing the river to Bristol, where he preached to about 400 people, and then returned to Philadelphia. At this time Whitefield is described as "of middle stature, slender body, fair complexion, comely appearance, and extremely bashful and modest. His delivery was warm and affectionate, and his gestures natural, and the most beautiful imaginable." Franklin, who attended his sermons, said: "He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words so perfectly that he might be heard and understood at a great distance. I computed that he might well be heard by 30,000." In 1745 a religious revival and excitement, called the "Great Awakening," broke out in various parts of the country, and extended into this county. It was noted for several marvelous instances of persons being thrown into contortions, called "jerks," while under the influence of preaching. Some fainted, others saw visions, and many were moved in various ways. It broke out in the Neshaminy congregation in the spring of the year, and in June, David Brainard, the great missionary among the Indians, came down from the Forks to assist Mr. Beatty, the pastor. He tells us, in his journal, that on Sunday there were assembled from 3,000 to 4,000 persons, and that during his sermons many were moved to tears. During this period a spiritual skeleton introduced itself amid the revivals and awakenings that stirred the religious world. Things were far from harmonious. Presbyterians became divided, and for forty years the Old Side and New Side stood bristling at each other across an imaginary line. It was the ancestor of the war of "schools" that came a century later. In a word the division was here. The Old Side believed that all should "be regarded and treated as regenerate who did not give evidence to the contrary, by manifest heresy or immorality," and that all baptised persons should be communicants. This doctrine was held by what was called the strict Presbyterians from Scotland and Ireland, with few exceptions. The New Side, principally persons from New England, held that all, in whom no evidence of regeneration could be found, should be excluded from communion, and the ministry. The Log College (2) was a New Side seminary, and the New Brunswick Presbytery leaned the same way. The division caused great trouble in the synod from 1728 to 1741, when the schism, which separated the New Brunswick Presbytery from the rest of the body, was consummated. The Neshaminy church was not a unit. That part of the congregation adhering to the Old Side worshiped in the old church, in the graveyard, under the pastoral care of Reverend Francis McHenry, of Deep Run, while the New Side held service in the new church, on the site of the present one on the back of the creek. This continued until about 1768, when the synod having become united the two sides came together and worshiped in the same building. (2) William Tennent renounced the authority of the Presbytery in 1739. The religious fervor of the period probably led to the establishment of the Log College. William Tennent, its founder, and in fact its everything, took a leading part in all the discussions of the day, and exerted himself to advance the cause of religion. Whether the school he taught in Bensalem was theological is not known, but that near Neshaminy soon assumed this character, and has now become historic. He made a clearing in the timber, on a fifty-acre tract given him by his kinsman, James Logan, and erected a log building about twenty feet square (3). It was one of the earliest classical schools in the province, and was called "Log College" in derision. Mr. Tennent was assisted in the school, for a year, by his son Gilbert, who was licensed to preach in 1725. As this was the only school within the bounds of the Presbyterian church at which young men could be fitted for the ministry, he soon had as many scholars as he could receive. The Log College prepared for the pulpit some of the ablest divines of the last century. Mr. Tennent was born in Ireland about 1673, and was a distant relative of the Laird of Dundas and the Earl of Panmure. He was educated for the Episcopal church, and ordained in 1704. In 1702 he married the daughter of Mr. Kennedy, a Presbyterian minister, came to America in 1718, was licensed by the Philadelphia Presbytery, called to East Chester first, to Bensalem in 1721, and to Neshaminy in 1726, where he died in 1746. His widow died in Philadelphia in 1753. He was a man of very fine education, and spoke the Latin language with elegance and purity. (3) He probably commenced the school in his own dwelling, for the land was not deeded to him until 1728. Mr. Logan frequently sent provisions to Mr. Tennent. We know but little of the Log College beyond what can be said of its distinguished founder and the eminent men educated within its log walls. Its story of usefulness is told in the lives of its alumni. Mr. Tennent had four sons, all born in Ireland, but three of them educated at the college; Gilbert, born 1703, died 1764, William, born 1705, died 1777, John, born 1706, died 1732, and Charles, born 1711. They all became distinguished ministers in the Presbyterian church, and William was the subject of the remarkable trance that attracted universal attention at the time. Gilbert accompanied Whitefield to Boston in 1740, where his preaching was received with great favor. He was largely instrumental in bringing about a division in the church. Whitefield said that the Log College had turned out eight ministers before the fall of 1739, including Tennent's four sons, but many more were educated there. All traces of this early cradle of Presbyterianism have long since passed away, and its exact location is hardly known. A piece of one of its logs is preserved as a memento, in a cane which the late Reverend Robert Belville presented to Doctor Miller, of Princeton, New Jersey. The school was maintained for twenty years, but did not long survive the retirement and death of its founder. Among the distinguished pupils of the Log College, we are able to mention the following: Samuel Blair, born in Ireland in 1712, came to America while young was one of the earliest pupils, and licensed to preach and ordained 1733. He was called to the pastorate of the New Londonderry, Pennsylvania, church, where he died. President Davis called him "the incomparable Blair;" Charles Beatty, son of an officer of the British army, born in Ireland about 1715, and came to America in 1729. He began life as a peddler, but stopping at the Log College with his pack, Mr. Tennent discovered he was a good classical scholar, and advised him to dispose of his goods and study for the ministry. He succeeded his preceptor at Neshaminy in 1743, married a daughter of Governor Reading, of New Jersey, in 1746, was present at the coronation of George III, and present at court, in 1758, and died in the West Indies, in 1772. He was the ancestor of [the late*] John Beatty, of Doylestown; William Robinson, the son of an eminent Quaker physician near Carlisle, England, was born the beginning of the last century. He came to America when a young man, studied at the Log College, was ordained in 1741, settled at Saint George, Delaware, where he died in 1746. He was stationed for a time at Craig's and Hunter's settlement, north of the Lehigh. He was considered one of the most effective preachers of his day; Samuel Finley, born in Ireland in 1715, came to America in 1734, was ordained in 1742, was pastor at Milford, Connecticut, and Nottingham, Maryland, and in 1761 was elected president of the College of New Jersey, where he died in 1766. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by the University of Edinburgh; John Roan, born in Ireland in 1716, came to America in his youth, studied at the Log College, and was settled over the united congregations of Paxton and Derry [one charge*], and Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1775; Daniel Lawrence, born on Long Island in 1718, was licensed in 1745. He preached at the Forks of Delaware until 1751, when he removed to Cape May, where he died in 1766; James McCrea probably came from Ireland. He was licensed in 1739, and ordained in 1741; was pastor over several congregations in New Jersey, and died in 1769. He was the father of the unfortunate Jane McCrea, who was murdered by the British Indians in 1777 (4). He had nine sons and two daughters; (4) Jane McCrea was murdered and scalped by a party of Indians while being conveyed by her betrothed, an officer in the British army. A quarrel among the Indians was said to have led to it. It occurred near Fort Edward a few days before the battle of Saratoga. It called forth the severest denunciation, and much pathetic prose and verse were written upon it. Among others, Joel Barlow, the distinguished American poet, wrote a poem upon the event, beginning: "One deed shall tell what fame great Albion draws; From those auxiliars in her barbrous cause; Lucinda's fate. The tale ye nations hear; Eternal ages trace it with a tear."* John Rowland, a native of Wales, was licensed to preach in 1738, and died about 1747 . He preached in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and was a man of commanding eloquence. He was known as "hell-fire Rowland" among the irreligious. In personal appearance he closely resembled a noted scoundrel, and was once arrested and prosecuted for him, and was acquitted with difficulty; William Dean, born about 1719, but it is not known where, was probably educated was probably educated at the college. He was licensed to preach in 1742, and officiated at the Forks of Delaware and elsewhere until 1745, when he was sent missionary to Virginia, where he died in 1748; David Alexander came from Ireland, and is thought to have been educated at the Log College. He was ordained and installed at Pequa in 1738, but passed out of sight in 1741. Probably John Roan and Doctor John Rogers both assisted in teaching, or possibly took charge of the school when infirm health, toward the close of his life, interrupted the duties of Mr. Tennent. Of the Log College pupils, fourteen became Presbyterian ministers. This institution was the pioneer school of those which made Hartsville an educational centre for fifty years in the present century. The churches, founded during the period of which we write, were properly the pioneers of denominational religion between the Delaware and the Lehigh, and form a cluster of great historic interest. The history of the religious movements of the first forty or fifty years of the eighteenth century will not be complete without a brief sketch of these societies. First in order is the Neshaminy Presbyterian church, of Warwick (5). The date of its foundation is not known, the loss of early records breaking its chain of history, but it was probably as early as 1720 [1726*], possibly before (6). The first known pastor was Reverend William Tennent, called from Bensalem in 1726 (7). He likewise preached at Deep Run, called the "Upper congregation," and in 1734 the newly-formed church at Newtown asked for one-fourth of his time, but Deep Run refused her consent. (5) The historians of the Presbyterian church have erroneously claimed Paulus Van Vleck as the pastor at Neshaminy in 1710, which carries its founding back to that date. Van Vleck was pastor at Bensalem and at the North and Southampton Dutch Reformed churches at that time, and never had any connection with the Warwick church. This correction in the early history of the Neshaminy church throws great uncertainty over the date of its foundation. This was never a Dutch congregation. In 1743 it was known as "the congregation of Warwick, in ye forks of Neshaminy." (6) This powerful sect in this state had a small beginning. The visit of Francis Makennie to Philadelphia, in 1692, is thought to have led to the gathering of dissenters at the Barbadoes store-house. John Watts, a Baptist minister, preached for them for a time, but in 1698 they called Jedediah Andrews, of New England. In 1704 they built a meeting-house on Market street, enlarged it in 1729, when they adopted the Presbyterian form of church government. With this exception the early churches of this denomination in Pennsylvania were Scotch-Irish. (7) This was without doubt the origin of Neshaminy Presbyterian church. It corresponds with the date of the arrival of the first installment of the Ulster Scots who formed the congregation, ad with the date of the donation of the land for the church by William Miller.* In 1740 the Reverend Francis McHenry was chosen his assistant. Mr. Tennent was never regularly installed, but the people met and chose him for their pastor, and the Presbytery afterward ratified their action. He was an active, thorough-going pastor, but not guiltless of stirring up strife in the church, and his crusade against the Old Side, his pastoral duties, and the management of the college kept him fully employed. A new church edifice was erected on the site of the present building in 1743, the last year of his pastorate. On December 1, 1743, Reverend Charles Beatty was ordained "to the congregation of Warwick in ye forks of Neshaminy," on a salary of £60, increased to 100 pounds, or $260 at the end of twenty years. Here Mr. Beatty spent his life, absenting himself from his charge only on three occasions, on a missionary visit to the frontiers in 1766, when chaplain to Franklin's regiment in 1755 (8), and a visit to the West Indies in 1771, to collect money for Princeton college, and where he died. In 1745 Neshaminy and "adjacent places" raised 14 pounds .5s 10d. to build a school-house and buy books for Brainard's Indians. The division in the church was consummated during his pastorate. The old church was in the present graveyard, where it stood for several years after the new one was built. Mr. Beatty was succeeded by Reverend Nathaniel Irwin in 1774, who was installed May 18th, and remained until he death, in 1812 (9). He began on a salary of $346, which was raised to $452 in 1798. He was a man of varied and extensive information, possessed great scientific knowledge, and was passionately fond of music. He exercised a wide influence in church and state, and for several years he controlled the politics of the county. He was instrumental in having the county seat removed to Doylestown. As a slur upon the clergy and church for interfering, some one made a charcoal sketch on the walls of the old court-house at Newtown, which represented Mr. Irwin in his shirt sleeves with a rope around the building and his body, and he pulling in the direction of Doylestown with all his might. During his pastorate, in 1775, the church was enlarged. In his will he left $1,000 to the Presbyterian theological seminary, on condition that it be located on the site of the Log College, and $500 to the "American Whig society" of Princeton college, of which he was one of the founders in 1769. He rode to church on an old mare called "Dobbin," and composed his sermons as he jogged along the road and across the fields. (8) Franklin says: "We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers and exhortations. Whey they enlisted they were promised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was fortunately served out to them half in the morning and half in the evening, and I observed they were punctual in attending to receive it, upon which I said to Mr. Beatty: 'It is perhaps below the dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum, but if you were to distribute it out only just after prayers, you would have them all about you.' He liked the thought, undertook the task, and with the help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never were prayers more generally or more punctually attended. So that I think this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by some military laws for non-attendance on divine service." (9) Mr. Irwin was born in Chester county, October 18, 1746, educated at William and Mary college, Virginia, and at Princeton, where he had James Madison for classmate. He was twice married. His first wife was Priscilla McKinstry, born 1760, his second, Mary Jamison, who died August 3, 1822. Mr. Irwin was the first to encourage John Fitch in his steamboat invention. The Reverend Robert B. Belville succeeded Mr. Irwin, and was ordained and installed October 20, 1813, and remained in charge a quarter of a century, resigning in November 1835 on account of ill health. He was an eloquent and able preacher, and during his pastorate there was a large increase of members. After the resignation of Mr. Belville the pulpit was filled by supplies until January 1839, when those claiming to be the majority called the Reverend James P. Wilson (10), a young man teaching a classical school in the neighborhood, who was installed the 26th of February. This gave great offense to the rest of the congregation, who organized a new church, and erected a board "Tabernacle" in the woods on the Bristol road, at the top of the hill above the church. This congregation identified itself with the Old School organization, and Mr. Wilson's with the New School. This the question of "schools" divided the congregation, as the "sides" had done a century before. These troubles led to a law-suit, but a compromise was effected by a division of property, when the Old School party built a new church at Hartsville. The congregation prospered under the ministry of Mr. Wilson, the church building was enlarged and improved in 1842, and the members largely increased. At his resignation, in 1847, to accept the presidency of Delaware College, the Reverend Douglas K. Turner was called to the charge, who was ordained and installed April 18, 1848. His pastorate extended through a quarter of a century, to April 20, 1873, and was a period of prosperity in the church. A lecture-room was built at Hartsville, in 1849, the graveyard enlarged in 1857, an organ purchased for the church in 1853, and a Gothic chapel built in the graveyard in 1871. During his pastorate 300 members were added to the church. Mr. Turner was succeeded by the Reverend William E. Jones, [who was installed pastor October 23, 1873, and followed by William K. Preston, who began his labors the first Sabbath in May 1884.*] (10) He was the son of Doctor James P. Wilson, who was born at Lewes, Delaware, 1769, was a distinguished Presbyterian minister and died near Hartsville, 1830. The son, who died 1849, was buried at the same place. The Southampton Baptist church, the second of the group, had its origin in the meeting of Keithians held at the house of John Swift, of Southampton, from the division among Friends, down to 1702. They now united with the Pennypack church, but continued their meeting, at regular intervals, at John Swift's, John Chamberlin's, and John Morris's, to about 1732, meanwhile John Watts (11), John Hart, Samuel Jones, George Eaton (12) and Jenkins Jones preaching for them. In 1732 John Morris gave a lot to build a meeting-house on, and 112 acres to support the minister. The house was erected, and services held one Sunday in the month by Joseph Eaton, of Montgomery, and by Jenkins Jones on a week day. The congregation retained its connection with Pennypack until 1745, when it was constituted a separate church. The request was signed by fifty members, and among them we find the names of Watts, Dungan, Hart, Potts, Gilbert, Yerkes, etc., the leading men of that section. Reverend Joshua Potts was the first pastor called, who remained to his death, in 1761, and the first persons baptised were Thomas Dungan, of Warwick, and Hannah Watts, of Southampton. For many years the baptisms took place in the dam of Stephen Watts, on the farm now owned by [a son of the late Judge Ulysses Mercur, near Davisville. The dam spoken of was the same on which John Fitch made a trial of his model of a steamboat about 1785.*] At that day marriages had to be published three times, and those who did not take the advice of the church about such matters were esteemed "disorderly," a matter of discipline borrowed from the Friends (13). In 1748 Oliver Hart and Isaac Eaton, both members, were licensed to preach, and they became distinguished ministers. The former was called to Charleston, South Carolina, and the latter to Hopewell, New Jersey. The parsonage house and barn were built in 1762, and a wall around the graveyard the same year. (11) He preached at Pennypack from December 1690 to August 27, 1702, when he died at the age of forty-one years. (12) The will of George Eaton, Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, was executed September 14, 1706, and probated October 16. It is recorded in Book 6, pp. 33-41, register's office, Philadelphia.* (13) It is recorded at this period that John Eaton, a member, was suspended for "some unbecoming carriage" at the election at Newtown. (See illustration of Southampton Baptist Church) In 1763 Doctor Samuel Jones became pastor at Pennypack and Southampton, but resigned charge of the latter in 1770. His joint salary was £80. In 1768 Joseph Richardson, a member, was suspended, and afterward excommunicated, for cheating his pastor in the purchase of a negro. June 1, 1770, the Reverend Erasmus Kelly was called to the pastorate in place of Mr. Jones, receiving the rent of the parsonage farm and £40 in money. He left in August 1771 (14). In February 1772, William Vanhorne was called to succeed Mr. Kelly, and ordained the 29th of May [May 27*] following. He remained in charge of the church and congregation until the fall of 1785, or the winter of 1786. He joined the Continental army at Valley Forge, January 1, 1778, and served as chaplain of General Glover's brigade until the summer of 1780, when he returned to Southampton. Meanwhile the church depended on supplies. While the enemy held Philadelphia, meetings for worship and business were interrupted on account of their frequent incursions into the surrounding country. A new meeting-house, forty by thirty-two feet, was erected in 1773, on a lot bought of Thomas Folwell, in 1770, and the old meeting-house was fitted up for a tenant (15). Mr. Vanhorne left "on account of the increasing expenses of his family, the insufficiency of his salary, and the little prospect there was of its being better (16). (14) Erasmus Kelly was born in this county in 1748, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and began to preach in 1769. He was called to Newport, Rhode island, in 1771, and remained until the war broke out, then went to Warren, in that state, where the British burnt the parsonage and his goods. He came to Pennsylvania until the war was over, when he returned to Newport, where he died in 1784. (15) Probably the building used many years for a school-house, that stood near the sexton's house, but torn down long ago. Among those baptised in 1773 was Daphne, a slave woman of Arthur Watts, well-remembered by the author. (16) William Vanhorne, the son of the Reverend Peter Peterson Vanhorne, was borne at Pennypack in 1746, was educated at the academy of Doctor Samuel Jones, and received the degree of A. M. from the college of Rhode Island. He was ordained at Southampton May 29, 1772. He was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Pennsylvania. He preached at White Plains, New York, until 1807, and died at Pittsburgh, October 13th, that year, on his way to Lebanon, Ohio, where he intended to settle. His father was a native of Middletown, in this county. After Mr. Vanhorne left Southampton the pulpit was supplied by David Jones (17), from the Great Valley, Chester county, who came in April 1786 and left in 1792, and Thomas Memmenger, from January 1, 1794, until probably 1801, when the Reverend Thomas B. Montanye, of New York, was called to the charge. During the twenty-eight years of Mr. Montanye's pastorate, Southampton enjoyed a very prosperous period, the members were numerous, the congregation large, and the standing of the church second to none of the denomination (18). The church was re-built and enlarged in 1814. About that time a flourishing Sunday school was established in the church, of which Christopher Search was president, and William Purdy and John Davis directors. In 1822 Juliann B. Anderson received a Bible from the school for having committed the entire New Testament to memory (19). The pastors, in succession, since the death of Mr. Montanye have been, Messrs. James B. Bowen, Alfred Earl, William Sharp, William Harding, and the present incumbent, William J. Purrington [and Silas H. Durand.*] The church building has been improved [in recent*] years, and a handsome residence built for the pastor, near by, out of proceeds arising from the sale of the parsonage farm. It will seat about 1200. The church was incorporated in 1794. For many years a good classical school was kept in the old stone school-house near the church, [which at one time was taught by the Reverend Isaac Eaton, and among the pupils was the late Joseph Gales, of Washington city. (20)] (17) The Rev. David Jones left a distinguished record, and we clip the following notice of his death from a newspaper of the period: "February 6, 1820, on his farm, Chester county, in the 84th years of his age, Rev. David Jones, Chaplain of the Continental army, and in the war of 1812-15. He was buried on the 8th at the Baptist burying ground in the Great Valley."* (18) The family descends from Thomas de la Montagnie, who arrived from France in 1661, and settled in New York. He was a Baptist minister, and probably a Huguenot. Thomas B. was the son of Reverend Benjamin Montanye, and born in New York, January 29, 1769. He entered the ministry at the age of eighteen and was a pastor several years at Warwick, New York, and died at Southampton, September 27, 1829. He was a man of the most sterling character, and has left a number of descendants, among whom is Harman Yerkes, of the Bucks county bar, in the maternal line, through his youngest daughter. (19) At his residence Southampton township, September 29, 1829, Rev'd. Thomas B. Montanye, aged near 61. His last sermon was preached at the funeral of Mrs. Amanda M. Lloyd, daughter of Enos Morris, Esq., Newtown, member of the Bucks Co., bar; wife of the late John Lloyd, and mother of the late E. Morris, and Henry C. Lloyd. Mrs. Lloyd died the evening of September 16, and was buried at Southampton.* (20) Bracketed lines not included in 1905 edition. Deep Run Presbyterian, the third church in our group, is one of the very oldest in central Bucks county; its organization followed the settlement of the Scotch-Irish in Bedminster and adjoining townships. No doubt meetings were first held at private houses, and when William Tennent was called to Neshaminy in 1726, Deep Run was his "Upper congregation." A log meeting-house was erected in 1732, on a lot given by William Allen, and the same year the church joined the Philadelphia Presbytery. It was not called Deep Run until 1738, and was incorporated in 1792. In 1767 Mr. Allen gave the church 100 acres for a parsonage. The first settled minister was the Reverend Francis McHenry (21), who was called in 1738 or 1739. He preached every third Sunday for Mr. Tennent, and Neshaminy asked for one-half of his time, which was not conceded. Mr. McHenry continued pastor at Deep Run until his death, in 1757, working hard for the church, but leading an uneventful life. He was followed by the Reverend James Latta, also a Scotch-Irish parentage, in 1761 (22). He remained in charge nine years. His salary was fixed at £65, a little over $200 in Pennsylvania currency. The parsonage house was erected the same year he took charge, and the meeting-house repaired in 1766. During his pastorate the deed for the parsonage farm was executed to him and his successors in the ministry, to be held by the congregation "so long as not without a regular minister for more than five years at any one time." This land was part of a grant by William Penn to Francis Plumstead, and thence to others, in 1704. Mr. Latta resigned in 1770. In the summer of 1773 the Reverend Hugh Magill was called to the pastorate of the church, but three years afterward the trustees resolved unanimously that "his usefulness is lost," and he was ordered "to clear the plantation" by April 15, 1776, but we are left to conjectures as to the cause of trouble. In 1775 or 1776 the "Deep Run lottery" was organized, probably to raise money to pay for building the parsonage or repairing the church. The members and congregation purchased 5,200 tickets, valued at £2,850. (21) Mr. McHenry came of an old Irish family, which is first heard of on the small island of Rathlin to the north of Ireland, whence they were driven to the glens of Antrim, by the MacDonalds, of Scotland. There they lived secluded from the world, retaining their nationality and religion, and speaking the Irish language. He was born in 1710, educated for the ministry, and with two brothers immigrated to America, in 1735, settling at Craig's settlement, north of the Lehigh. He was licensed to preach November 10, 1738, and ordained at Neshaminy July 12, 1739. He frequently preached at Newtown and Red Hill. His wife, born May 21, 1719, died October 19, 1793. (22) Mr. Latta was born in 1732, came to America when a boy, and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, was ordained in 1759, resigned at Deep Run in 1770 and died in Lancaster county, in 1801. Mr. Magill was succeeded by the Reverend James Grier (23), of Plumstead, in 1776, who continued their pastor until his death in 1791, although he had many advantageous offers elsewhere. Though one of the gravest of men, he died of laughter, at seeing his wife and hired man attempt to yoke an unruly hog, which ruptured a blood vessel in the throat. His funeral sermon was preached by Reverend Nathaniel Irwin, of Neshaminy, who exclaimed in tones of lamentation, "O, Deep Run, they glory is departed!" Although Mr. Grier's salary was meager enough, he received part of it in wheat, rye, Indian corn, and oats. The church was now without a settled pastor until 1798, when the Reverend Uriah DuBois (24) was called. During his pastorate the Presbyterian church at Doylestown was organized, and he remained in charge until his death in 1821. This wider field of influence changed the destiny of Deep Run, and transferred the "seat of empire" to the new congregation (25). Service is now held at Deep Run once in three months, and at other times both congregations worship at Doylestown. The church at Deep Run was the parent of a religious colony that emigrated from Bedminster to North Carolina 100 years ago, whose descendants compose the flourishing congregation of Concord Presbyterians in Rowan county. (23) He was the son of Nathan [John*] and Agnes Grier, immigrants from Ireland, who settled in Plumstead. He was born in 1750, converted by Whitefield, graduated at Princeton in 1772, studied divinity with Doctor Witherspoon, and was licensed to preach in 1775. His brother Nathan, and his son John Ferguson Grier, both became able and prominent Presbyterian ministers. (24) He was born in Salem county, New Jersey, in 1768, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1790, and licensed to preach in 1796. He married Martha Patterson in 1798, and they took up their residence at the village of Dublin, in Bedminster township. (25) In our account of the Doylestown church will be found a further notice of Mr. DuBois and his labors. The Newtown Presbyterian church had its origin with the Scotch-Irish and English Presbyterians who settled in that section in the first quarter of the last century. A log meeting-house was erected in 1734, at the end of the Swamp road, a mile west of Newtown, and the Reverend Hugh Carlisle was called to be the pastor there and at Plumstead. He declined because they were so far apart, nevertheless he preached for these churches until 1738 (26). The Reverend James Campbell succeeded him, who supplied Newtown the summer of 1739, but declined the call in September. He probably was not the settled pastor, but continued to preach at Newtown, Tinicum and Durham, going to the Forkes occasionally. He declined the call at Newtown because he did not think he had been "born again," but commenced to preach again at the request of Messrs. Whitefield and Tennent, and success attended his labors. He was settled at Tohickon in 1742, but owing to a controversy as to where the new meeting-house should be located, he left in 1749, and went South in 1758 (27). In the fall of 1745 Newtown and Bensalem both asked for the services of Reverend Daniel Lawrence, but he was sent the following spring to supply the Forks. The third pastor at Newtown was the Reverend Henry Martin, a graduate of Princeton, who was called in May 1752 and remained to his death in 1764. (26) Mr. Carlisle was probably from England or Ireland, was admitted into the New Castle Presbytery in 1735, and joined the Presbytery of Philadelphia in June 1746. He removed into the bounds of the Lewes Presbytery in 1838. (27) Mr. Campbell was born in Scotland, and came to America, 1739, and was ordained, 1742. After the death of Mr. Martin the church depended on casual supplies for five years, until 1769, when the Reverend James Boyd became the settled minister. The present building was erected the same year, on a lot bought before 1757, the walls remaining intact to the present day. The floor was laid with brick, a two-story pulpit garnished the north side, and high-backed pews received the worshipers. But little has come down to us of the long pastorate, nearly half a century, of Mr. Boyd, but that little is to his spiritual and personal credit. He was an able and earnest minister, the church flourished under his care, and during the trying times of the Revolution he was a patriot and constant to his country's cause. He died at his post in 1814. During Mr. Martin's pastorate, about 1761, the Assembly authorized a lottery to raise £400 to repair the church, and to build or repair the minister's residence (28). Difficulty arising about the collection of the money from some of the managers, the congregation petitioned the legislature to appoint commissioners to settle their accounts. The act was approved March 21, 1772, and Henry Wynkoop, John Harris and Francis Murray (29) were selected. (28) The following is a copy of a lottery ticket used on that occasion: "Newtown Presbyterian Church Lottery, 1761. No. 104. This Ticket entitles the Bearer to such Prize as may be drawn against its Number, if demanded within Six Months after the Drawing is finished, subject to such Deduction as is mentioned in the Scheme. (Signed) Jno. DeNormandie" (29) Probably. (See illustration of Presbyterian Church, Newtown) The old church building has a bit of Revolutionary history that adds to its interest. Some of the Hessians from the field of Trenton passed their first night of captivity within its walls. When digging for a foundation for the middle post that supports the south gallery, bones and buttons were turned up, said to have belonged to an English officer who was buried in the aisle. On the wall, now covered by the frescoing, was written the following verse in red chalk, which tradition credits to a Hessian captive, which is extremely doubtful, as the writing was in English: "In times of war, and not before, God and the soldier men adore; When the war is o'er and all things righted, The Lord's forgot and the soldier slighted." The church had another period of supplies, after the death of Mr. Boyd, for four years, James Joyce and Mr. Doak officiating the greater part of the time. In 1818 [1815*] the Reverend Alexander Boyd was called, and remained pastor for twenty years, the two Boyds filling the same pulpit nearly three-quarters of a century (30). Under him the church enjoyed a season of prosperity, and great revivals took place in 1822 and 1823. The Sabbath-school was organized in 1817, the teachers of which were fined for non-attendance. Mr. Boyd was succeeded by the Reverend Robert D. Morris (31), of Kentucky, a graduate of the Princeton seminary, who preached his first sermon at Newtown, April 22, 1838. This was a fortunate selection, and during his pastorate of nineteen years he made his mark on the church and community. The building was re-modeled in 1842, the communicants increased, and some of the pastor's energy instilled into the congregation. Mr. Morris resigned in 1857 [1856, and subsequently took charge of the Oxford Female College, Ohio, where he died.*] In October 1869 an interesting centennial was held in the old church, and was the occasion of a pleasant reunion for many who had been long separated. (30) Alexander Boyd died at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, in June 1845 in is sixty-fifth year. (31) Mr. Morris is the son of Colonel Joseph Morris, who removed from New Jersey to Mason county, Kentucky, in 1794, where he was born August 22, 1814. The Morrises, Mawr-rwyce, meaning war-like, powerful, trace their descent from Welsh ancestors in 933. After the death of Cromwell his ancestor fled to Barbadoes to escape the wrath of Charles II, whence the family came to this country. On the mother's side he descends from the Deshas, who fled from France in 1685, and settled at New Rochelle, New York, whence they came to Pennsylvania, and made their home near the Water Gap, when that country was part of Bucks county. They removed to Kentucky in 1784, and shared the perils of the "bloody ground." Mr. Morris is a graduate of Augusta college, Kentucky, and was licensed to preach in 1838. From the Newtown church, and the academy, a kind of adjunct to it, there have gone forth some twenty-five or more ministers of the gospel, some of whom became prominent. In the church is an ancient straight-back chair, said to have belonged to William Penn, probably at Pennsbury. Since the resignation of Mr. Morris, the pastors of the church have been the Reverends George Burrows, Henry F. Lee, S. J. Milliken, and George C. Bush, [1866, W. McElroy Wylie, 1877, and Thomas J. Elms, 1888.*] In 1874 there were 223 communicants. In the early days the staunchest supporters of the church came from Upper Makefield, among whom were the Keiths, the Slacks, the Stewarts [and the Torberts.*] The New Britain Baptist church is the sixth in our group. For several years the Welsh Baptists of that township, and the neighboring settlers of the same faith attended the Montgomery church, of which many of them were members. They became tired of going so far to church at all seasons, and asked that another meeting-house be built nearer to them. This was so violently opposed by the leading men who lived near the Montgomery church, that the petitioners took great offense at it. This begat a strife that required years to reconcile, and it was not long before the congregation was divided into two parts with a separate communion. About the same time a doctrinal difference, touching the "Sonship of Christ," sprung up between then which made the breach even wider. This state of things continuing without hope of reconciliation, the New Britain party resolved to build a meeting-house for themselves. This they carried into effect in 1744, and on a lot of two acres, partly the gift of Lawrence Growden, they erected a stone church, thirty by forty feet, a school-house and stabling (32). The congregation consisted of about seventy families, and the Reverend Joseph Eaton (33) preached for them at £40 a year, assisted by Reverend William Davis (34), who succeeded him at his death. Down to 1823, this church was called the "Society meeting-house," because it was built on land that had been owned by the "Free Society of Traders." (32) Where the present church is located. (33) Mr. Eaton was born at Radnor, Wales, August 25, 1679, came to America at the age of seven years, was ordained October 24, 1727, and died April 1, 1749. He took sides with the New Britain party from the first. The distinguished Isaac Eaton, of Hopewell, New Jersey, was his son. (34) Mr. Davis was born in Glamorshire, Wales, in 1695, came to America in 1722 but went back and returned here in 1737, settled in Chester county, but removed to New Britain, where he officiated until his death in 1768. His two children, William and Mary, married into the families of Evans and Caldwell. The New Britain congregation made repeated overtures of reconciliation with the parent church at Montgomery, but without success. In 1746 they asked a hearing before the Philadelphia association, but that body, committed to the Montgomery interest, refused them, because their letter "came into the association disorderly." The request was renewed in 1747, but the association positively refused to hear the allegations of the "Society party." The following year the association recommends that when their ministers preach among the "Society party" they exhort them to be reconciled, otherwise they will be encouraging the faction. Grown weary of their attempts to get dismission from the mother church, and hopeless of recognition by the association, they resolved to complete their organization as a religious body. They adopted a general confession of faith, and October 28, 1754, the constitution of the new church was signed by twenty-two members (35). When the Montgomery church saw the division was inevitable, they gave the New Britain party a regular dismissal, and the following year they were admitted into the association. During these difficulties Benjamin Griffiths led the Montgomery party, and Reverend Joseph Eaton the seceders (36), as they were called. (35) The following were the names: Isaac Evans, David Stephen, Evan Stephen, John Williams, Walter Shewel, Joshua Jones, William George, Clement Doyle, William Dungan, John James, David Morgan, Thomas James, David Stephen, Jr., Thomas Humphrey, Mary James, Mary Shewel, Mary James (Aaron's wife), Margaret Phillips, Elizabeth Stephen, Jane James, Catharine Evans and Margaret Doyle. (36) During these troubles a proposition was made to build a new meeting-house on "Leahy hill," a location now unknown. There was a little Baptist flock fourteen miles from New Britain, among the Rockhills, that had some connections with that church. On the death of Mr. Eaton, Mr. Davis was made pastor, and the Reverend Joseph Thomas (ordained in 1766), called as assistant. During their joint pastorate there was a considerable increase of members, among whom was Simon Butler, from Montgomery church, in 1758. In 1764 there were fifty-three members. The Reverend Joshua Jones (37) succeeded Mr. Davis at his death, in 1761, and resigned in 1795. The old meeting-house was torn down in 1815, and a new one built on or near its site. The latter has been enlarged and improved within a few years, and is now one of the most comfortable church edifices in the county. The first school-house stood until 1815, when a new one was built, which was enlarged in 1857. The graveyard was enlarged in 1846, by the purchase of additional ground of David Evans. The church was not incorporated until 1786. The membership of the church has fluctuated at different periods in its history. At the end of the first thirty-four years there were three less than when constituted. There was an increase from 1788 to 1823, when there were 148 members, then a falling off until 1848, when there were forty-three members less than a quarter of a century before. At the end of the first century the members numbered 252. The church is now in a very flourishing condition, and exercises a wide influence for good. (37) Mr. Jones was born at Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1721, came to America in 1726, was ordained in 1761, and died December 26, 1802. The names of the pastors at New Britain from the resignation of Mr. Jones are as follows: William White in 1795, called to the Second Baptist church, Philadelphia, Silas Hough, 1804, was stricken with palsy while preaching in the pulpit, and died in 1823, John C. Murphy, 1819, James McLaughlin, 1825, Eugenio Kinkaid, called for a year in January, 1830, but declined and went to India, where he became famous as a missionary, Samuel Aaron, in 1830, one of the most eloquent public speakers the county has ever produced, Joseph Mathias, 1833, and who frequently officiated as a stated supply, Thomas T. Cutchen, 1835, Samuel Nightingale, 1838, Heman Lincoln, 1845, William Wilder, 1850, Levi G. Beck, 1855, A. C. Wheat, 1859, W. M. Whitehead, 1867, and Levi Munger, called in April 1872, [N. C. Fetter, May 13, 1879, ordained, June 24, and resigned in February 1890. Mr. Fetter was succeeded by Thomas C. Davis and he by Eugene B. Hughes (38).*] (38) Of the pastors, at New Britain, the Reverends Mr. Aaron and Mr. Mathias are noticed elsewhere. The Reverend Samuel Nightingale, was one of the most famous of recent pastors. He was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, December 11, 1792, and passed his early life in the hardware business in Baltimore and Philadelphia. He had no regular training for the ministry, but, feeling called upon to take up "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon," he entered the church. He was called to the pastorate of the New Britain Baptist church in 1838, where he officiated until January 1845. He passed several subsequent years of his life at Doylestown without a charge, but officiated at various churches occasionally. In 1846 he attempted the erection of a Baptist church in Doylestown, bought a lot and got the walls up to the first floor, when the want of funds caused him to relinquish it, after spending $630. He was unique in the pulpit, but an able expounder of the Gospels. He seldom, if ever, prepared his sermons; he selected his subject, thought it over, and was then prepared to hurl the truth at the enemy. He was married to Emma Billington of Philadelphia, June 8, 1814, and was the father of seven children. His eldest daughter, Annie, was the second wife of Judge Richard Jones, American Consul General to Egypt under Mr. Buchanan's administration, and his youngest, Mrs. Kuhn, died in Doylestown in 1904. Mr. Nightingale went to Philadelphia near the close of the sixties, where he died March 3, 1881. The Reverend Heman Lincoln was a New Englander, began life as a school teacher, studied Divinity at the Newton Seminary, and was subsequently a Professor there for nineteen years, dying in 1887. He was noted for his scholarship and was an eloquent speaker. He taught a classical school several years at New Britain. He succeeded Mr. Nightingale as pastor, January 1, 1845. The Reverend Mr. Fetter, a native of Bucks county, and grandson of the Reverend Thomas B. Montanye, many years pastor at Southampton, subsequently filled the pulpits of Spokane, Washington, and Doylestown.* [The seventh and last, of our group of "Historic Churches," is the Tohickon Reformed church on the south bank of Tohickon creek in the northwest corner of Bedminster township. As early as 1738-40, several families of French Huguenots and some Germans and Swiss were settled in that vicinity (39). They first met at each others houses for Sunday worship, one of their number reading the scriptures, another making a prayer, while all joined in singing one or more hymns from the hymn book brought from the fatherland. The present Reformed pastor has in his possession, a volume used at these meetings, wherein are bound the Bible, hymn book, Heidelberg Catechism and Palatinate liturgy. In this way most of the early congregations were formed in Bucks county of all de nominations. In these meetings the Tohickon church had its birth, and grew from its small beginning. There are traces of an earlier attempt at organization, but nothing was done toward securing a permanent church home prior to September 1, 1743, when a small lot was bought Blasius Boyer, by the Reformed congregation of Rockhill township, across the creek from the present church. Upon this lot a log schoolhouse was built; the organization of the congregation completed and here public worship was held for some time. In 1753, the trustees of the Reformed and Lutheran congregations bought a lot on the east side of the Bethlehem road, in Bedminster for five shillings, on which Tohickon church was shortly erected. This was at a point where the townships of Rockhill, Bedminster and Haycock meet; the Tohickon creek separating Bedminster and Rockhill from Haycock, and the Bethlehem road dividing Rockhill from Bedminster. This was an objective point for that section of country, and the location had much to do with building up the congregations. The church property has been owned, jointly, from the beginning, setting an example in religious life other denominations might profit by. The present church lot contains eight acres.*] (39) What is known as the Reformed church of the United States (formerly German Reformed) and the Reformed church in America (Dutch Reformed church), are the two streams, united for over 100 years in this country, that came flowing down from the ancient reformation movement with name unchanged. The general devotional standard is the Heidelberg Catechism, formed and adopted at Heidelberg, Germany, 1563, at a meeting of theologians, assembled at the request of Elector Frederick III, called "The Pious." His great desire was to have some fixed doctrinal basis for all Germany, then greatly disturbed by hotly contending and rival religious factions. The Catechism became popular and was the Catechism of the first regularly organized Protestant church.* [On this lot have stood three church buildings almost on the same site, the first, as already stated, built 1743. One authority says this was a wooden structure; another that it was stone, the latter probably correct. It had an earthen floor. The second church, 1766, was stone without floor or stove, hip roof, chancel laid with brick, and galleries on three sides. At a later date a wooden floor was laid and stove introduced. A third church was built, 1838, about where its predecessor had stood for almost a century, built of stone 60 by 50 feet, with galleries on three sides. It was remodeled, 1884, and improvements added, 1897. The seating capacity is 1000, and the two congregations have about that number. The church of 1766 had an organ that cost $1500, presented by Peter Heany, but the records do not say when. The second and present organ, bought 1839, and made in Lehigh county, still leads the congregation in their devotional exercises. The first sheds for sheltering teams were erected 1860, and a cemetery association, organized in the church but independent of it, was effected, 1873. The first interment, Henry Johnson, was made in October. The church property is one of the most valuable in the county and few have larger attendance.*] [It is impossible to tell who were the fist supplies of the Tohickon congregation, for doubtless the spiritual welfare of the German pioneers was not neglected prior to the erection of a church building. Tradition says, that ten years prior to 1754, Lutheran ministers, and, no doubt, Reformed also, occasionally visited the wilderness. Among the names given are Messrs Rauss and Schultz, but, beyond these names we know nothing of them. The congregation was too poor to pay the salary of a regular minister, or even the half of it. For many years it was called Keichline's church, and it is said Andrew and Charles Keichline gave a lot for it. The church does not appear to have had a regular pastor prior to 1749, when the Rev. Jacob Riesz had charge, as is seen by the oldest record book, wherein he made the following entry: "I, Rev. Jacob Riesz, pastor of the Reformed congregation at the Tohickon, in Bedminster township, Bucks county. Pa., commenced my pastorate work among this flock, August 27, 1749." Now, in regular order are the following names of pastors: Reverend Egidia Hecker, Christopher Gobsecht, Casper Wack, John Theobald Faber, Michael Kern, John William Ingold, Nickalus Pomp, Jacob Senn, John Andrew Strassburger, Joshua Derr and Peter S. Fisher, twelve in all, from 1749 to 1871, when Rev. Jacob Kehm (40), began his pastorate.*] (40) In 1898-99, while this edition was in course of preparation for the press, a local newspaper said: "Reverend Jacob Kehm, Sellersville, has severed his connection with Christ Reformed church, near Telford. He served the congregation twenty-eight years. This church was the mother church of most of the Reformed churches in this section. A few years ago its sesquicentennial was celebrated. The congregation had a membership of 400. Reverend Perry Ratzell, of Souderton, will temporarily fill the vacancy. Reverend Kehm will continue to serve the congregation at Telford and Tohickon.* [Some of the pastors were educated men, Latinism appearing frequently in their records, particularly in their entries of baptisms, viz.: uxor ejus, teste erant parente ipse. The Rev'd Egidia Hecker began his record thus: April 19, 1756, Johanne Egidia Hecker, hoc tempore Reformatae Religionis pastor Tohickon." The congregation had the privilege of having for its pastor Rev'd Caper Wack.*] [Persecution drove the Reformed church people from France and Palatinate into Germany, from thence into Holland an England, and from these countries, the stream of immigration flowed into this country, where settlements were made in all the colonies from New York to Georgia on the Atlantic seaboard. The first Reformed congregations in this state and county, were organized by the pioneers and their descendants, and have maintained them to the present. For over 100 years, the Dutch and Germans were not formally separated, but held a common relation to the "Mother Synod" of Holland, nor is there any recorded action or event by which they were separated; but the Dutch, having the centre of their religious activity in New York, and the Germans theirs in Pennsylvania, they simply drifted apart, and finally, in 1747-48, organized separate synods, which have continued to the present time, with the most friendly relations between them, having essentially the same doctrine and the same government. Such, in word, is the general origin of the Reformed church in America.*] [The names of the pastors who served the congregation in the Revolution has escaped us, as also that of the first Reformed minister educated in America, and the first to use the English language in public service, but he resided in Hilltown, ten miles from the present church. The average pastorate, of the first twelve pastors, was a little over ten years. One of the pastors, the Rev'd John Andrew Strassburger, began and ended his ministerial labors here, never serving any other pastoral charge, dying, 1860, at the age of 64 (41). One of the twelve pastors lies buried in the old grave yard which surrounds the church, viz., Jacob Riesz. A few years ago, while the present pastor was looking for some names in the oldest part of the grave yard, his attention was drawn to a tombstone conspicuous among the rest, and upon examining it, found the following inscription: "Rev. Jacob Riesz, formerly Reformed preacher here; was born April 10, 1706, and died December 3, 1774, aged 68 y. 7 m. and 23 days."*] (41) Mr. Strassburger's pastorate was one of the longest in the county, thirty-six years, embracing, besides Tohickon, the parishes of Indian Field, Charlestown and Ridge Road. He married 1,235 couples, preached 1,044 funeral sermons, baptized 3,000 persons and confirmed 1,600. He wielded large influence in the upper section of the county, and was an important factor in religious and secular affairs. He left one son, Reverend N. S. Strassburger of the Reformed church, born near Sellersville, 1819, graduated at Marshall College; afterward studied at the Theological Seminary and was ordained, 1847. He filled some important charges, including Zion's Reformed church, Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has been dead some years.* [From what we can learn of the congregation, from the very beginning, it increased rapidly in numbers, its membership, at one time, reaching 600. It is, at least, in part the mother of all the neighboring Reformed congregations, Kellers, Applebachville, Dublin, Quakertown, Ridge Road, Benjamin, or Bridgetown, Sellersville, Perkasie and Doylestown, a numerous progeny that have done much good in the past and will continue it in the future. During the present pastorate many of its members have been dismissed to other congregations, especially to Reformed churches in Philadelphia. The membership is now about 400. The present pastor writes us, that during his pastorate many changes have been effected; the Sunday school has been introduced, one-third of the regular service is now, and has been for many years, conducted in English, and, before long, one-half of each service will be conducted in the language of the country; as the present generation is educated wholly in the English language, no catechism in German can now be, and has not been used in years. This will force the more frequent use of English in the public and regular divine service. In this pastorate of over thirty years, other changes have taken place. Most of the older and active members when he came among them have gone to their eternal rest, and almost a new congregation have grown up around him and under his care.*] [The grave yard hands down the names of many of the pioneer worshipers on the banks of the Tohickon. The author paid a visit to it many years ago and spent an afternoon in this silent city of the dead, and in the old church. The earliest stone with an inscription on it, was erected to the memory of John Heinrich Eckel, probably the ancestor of the family in that vicinity that bears this name, who died November 24, 1764, his wife, Susannah, born 1719, surviving him until 1803, thirty-nine years of widowhood. Other stones bore the names of Felix Lehr, 1769, Michael Ott, 1767, and wife Catharine, 1792, Johannes Hoenig, the original of Haney, born 1714, died 1787, and John Nonnemacher, born 1720 and died 1788. Several stones bear the name of Salade, the original of Solliday. Henry Eckel was organist in the old stone church. We noticed in this yard the same thing noticeable in all the old graveyards of the county, the quality of head-stones four periods mark in the interments; first, the primitive rock, from the foundation of the church down to about 1750, generally without inscription; followed by slate to 1775; then brown sandstone to about 1800, closing with marble, first blue and then white. German inscriptions were universal to about 1840. The earlier stones show a sprinkling of English names; probably of settlers of this race in Tinicum, or along Deep Run. The following are names of the trustees of Tohickon church at various periods, and familiar now in the county: 1753, Martin Shaffer, Ludwig Wildonger, Jacob Rohr, John Worman, and Michael Ott, 1803, John Heaney, Jacob Solliday, Jacob Beidleman, and Philip Schreyer; unknown date, John K. Shellenberger, Thomas Bolomen, Thomas Frederick and William Keller; 1864, John Y. Fluck, Samuel Rotzell, Ephraim Krauth and Thomas Kramer.*] END OF CHAPTER XIX.