BIO: REV. ANDREW NEELY HAGERTY, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 693-696 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ REV. ANDREW NEELY HAGERTY, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, was born near West Middletown, Washington county, Pa., March 27, 1852. He is a son of William Anderson and Mary Ann (Herron) Hagerty, both natives of 694 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. that section and prominently identified with its affairs. The Hagerty family belonged to the old Seceder Church at Mt. Hope, Washington county, and were well known energetic Christian workers. The grandfather of Mr. Hagerty was an elder of the Mt. Hope Church for more than forty years, and his father organized its first Sunday-school, of which he continued to act as superintendent for nineteen years. Mary Ann Herron was the daughter of Capt. Andrew Herron, who was for many years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, Washington county. He was a man of large stature and great force of character, and a cousin of Rev. Francis Herron, D. D., to whom, more than to any other one man, the Western Theological Seminary of Allegheny owes its existence. William Anderson Hagerty and Mary Ann Herron were married March 21, 1848, and to them were born: Thomas Anderson, Andrew Neely, Robert J. R., Elizabeth Ann, Mary Susanna and William Herron, all of whom were living when this sketch was written. Andrew Neely Hagerty, the second son, when sixteen years of age made public profession of his faith in Christ and joined the United Presbyterian Church at West Alexander, near which town the family had moved in 1868. Soon afterward he became convinced that his life work lay in the ministry, but with Jesus for his supreme example he thought it proper not to enter upon its active duties until about thirty years old. He therefore remained upon the farm, helping his father, until his twenty-first year. In the autumn of 1873 he entered the West Alexander Academy, an institution of the "old school" from which have gone out many men whose names have become famous, and whose lives have blessed the world. Here hespent one year. The head of the school was Prof. John Cross Frazier, a thorough scholar and successful educator, who devotedly loved a diligent student and correspondingly hated a lazy one. The fact that young Hagerty was a favorite with so exacting an instructor is the best proof that he was an industrious and satisfactory student. The next two winters he taught school in the vicinity of his home and employed his evenings at studying and reciting. During the summer seasons he helped on the farm. In the spring of 1875 he went to Waterford, Erie county, where for two years he assisted in teaching mathematics in an academy of which his brother Thomas was the principal. Here, in addition to teaching, he diligently pursued his studies and completed his preparation for college. In 1877 he entered the Freshman class of LaFayette College, of Easton, Pa., and graduated from it in the classical course in 1881. He then entered the Theological Seminary of the United Presbyterian Church in Allegheny, and graduated from same March 27, 1884, his thirty-second birthday, thus in letter and spirit carrying out the purpose he had formed when he chose his profession. Having now completed his education he was licensed by the Presbytery of Chartiers, in Mt. Prospect United Presbyterian Church, April 8, 1884. His choice of field for the first years of his ministerial labors was the West, and his preference being known the Committee of Missions gave him assignments in that part of the country. He accordingly did his first preaching at Hanover, Jo Daviess Co., Ill., in the month of September, 1884. From there he went to Olathe, Kans., where he preached on the first Sabbath of October, and a month afterward received from the congregation a unanimous call. He accepted, and on the CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 695 14th of the following January was ordained and installed as their pastor. Although the congregation was numerically weak, and for several years had been divided in spirit, they rallied around their new minister with enthusiasm and in a pastorate of less than three years a handsome new church was built and the membership more than doubled. In July, 1887, the Board of Home Missions requested Mr. Hagerty to take charge of a new mission at Castroville, Cal. By this time his Olathe people had become warmly attached to him and when he first offered them his resignation they voted unanimously against accepting it. He, however, considered it a duty to comply with the wishes of the Board and accepted the call to California. The citizens of Castroville were almost wholly Roman Catholic, but from the Scotch Canadians of the adjacent valley Mr. Hagerty succeeded in organizing a small congregation and establishing the first Protestant church in that locality. He was in charge at Castroville a little less than one year. In May, 1888, Mr. Hagerty was called to become missionary pastor of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, Mo. This was a new organization, consisting of about twenty-five members who worshipped in a hall in the eastern part of the city. He accepted and became the first pastor that the little congregation had. It proved a fruitful field. What the congregation lacked in numbers they made up in zeal and piety. They went earnestly and prayerfully to work with their new pastor and at the end of three years they had built a ten thousand dollar chapel and increased their membership from twenty-five to one hundred and twenty-five. After due consideration of the matter Mr. Hagerty about this time concluded to separate from the United Presbyterian Church and join the larger body of the Presbyterian Church. This he did on Oct. 6, 1891, by presenting his letter of ministerial standing to the Pittsburg Presbytery, at a meeting of that body held in the Mt. Washington Church of Pittsburg. While visiting in Philadelphia, the following year, he was invited to supply a number of prominent Philadelphia pulpits, through which engagements he was detained in that city until in November, when he was asked to supply a church at Hagerstown, Md., for the winter. In the month of January, while filling the Hagerstown call, he preached twice in the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle; and on the 12th of February was tendered a hearty and unanimous call to that church. On Feb. 22d the congregation at Hagerstown also extended him a call, but he declined the call to Hagerstown and accepted that to Carlisle. The First Church of Carlisle is one of the oldest, most interesting and most important churches of Southern Pennsylvania. The present building is the oldest church edifice west of the Susquehanna river in the United States, having been commenced in 1757. The church has always been strong both in the number and character of its membership, and some of the most distinguished clergymen of the Presbyterian Church have been its pastors. Its massive fortress-like building stands as a silent witness to the strong character of the men who laid the foundations of Presbyterianism in the Cumberland Valley. Built before our country's natal day, it was the rallying point for the men who pledged their lives and fortunes for the liberty that has become our precious heritage, and it stands as the watch tower of the fathers over the faithfulness of the children. Mr. Hagerty began his pastorate in Carlisle early in the spring of 1893. He [Archivist's note: Per research of Rev. William T. Swaim, construction of the First Presbyterian Church in Carlisle did not start until about 1771.] 696 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. preached his first sermon on the 19th of March, and was installed on the 27th of April. He has now labored in the charge over eleven years, through all of which there have been pleasant relations between pastor and people and a steady, healthy growth of church work along all lines. On Dec. 7, 1876, Mr. Hagerty was married to Sarah Jane Smith, daughter of William Smith, a prominent farmer of Washington county, and an elder for many years in the Pigeon Creek Presbyterian Church. She received her education in the Washington Seminary, and was in full sympathy with her husband's purposes of entering the ministry. Coming of Godly ancestry she was eminently qualified for the important station of a pastor's wife, and through all the years of his preparation and subsequent labors she has proven herself worthy of the call into the ministry with her husband. Mr. Hagerty was twice commissioned to the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church, also twice a member of the Committee of Missions of the same church, and in 1898 a commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which met at Winona, Ind., and after the organization of the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip, in the Presbyterian Church, was eight years continuously a member of that body's Executive Council. He is a clear and logical thinker, a forcible speaker and perfectly frank in the treatment of all subjects that he discusses in his sermons. He is entirely devoted to his work, lives in it, and wins and holds the respect of those who know him.