Church: The Brookland Congregation 1822-1865: North Washington Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by TEDTAM@aol.com 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. The following excerpts were taken from The Centenary of a Covenanter Society 1822 - 1922, RP Theological Seminary Library, Pittsburgh, PA, by R. C. Reed, 1924. NOTE: The contributer does NOT have this book. Brookland Church- located in the Northwest corner of Westmoreland county on the top of Garver's Ferry Hill near Freeport. Interior of the old log meeting house 1837-1856: The names show how the congregation was seated. The communion table always stood as indicated. The people were seated around it here on communion Sabbaths. The doors were at the west end, and south side. There was a door leading to the steps up to the pulpit. Front Left: SPROULL, Jos. McKEE, J. BOWMAN, McGINNIS Front Pulpit: WALKINSHAW Front Right: T. ARMSTR'G., Jas. & S. BOLE, J.A. & R.G. McKEE, D. & H. McELROY Left: A. DODDS, D & R. ARMSTRONG, JOHN BOLE, JOHN GARRETT, OSBORN - McRACKEN, J. C. MKEE - SMITH, JANE McKEE, THOMP. GRAHAM, T. COPELAND, JOSEPH FORD, I. COPELAND, R. NIXON, JOSEPH DODDS, D. DODDS, Vacant. RIGHT: Bench, J. ARMSTRONG, THOS. MARTIN, WM. COPELAND, D. & R. BOYD, GEO. PATTERSON, ALEXANDERS, McCRUMS, SCOTTS, Vacant The left and right sides were separated by a stove, communion table and another stove. The left front and right front were separated by the pulpit, a chair and a table. The Brookland Congregation of Northwest Westmoreland Co. Pennsylvania. The Brookland congregation was organized on the ninth day of May, 1822... The Brookland Branch came to be known as "The Elect Corner." It was a term given to the Covenanters in these townships (Allegheny, Burrell, North Washington) by other parts of the county, especially, Greensburg, the county seat, and the center of the operations of politicians, in ridicule. The people of this corner of the county were loyal to their Divine King, and protested against Christless civil government, and could not be swayed from their belief by politicians seeking political office... Joseph McKEE, Archibald DODDS, Robert ARMSTRONG, John ARMSTRONG, and Joseph McELROY joined the congregation in the years 1822 - 1830. John DODDS, with his son-in-law, Thomas SPROULL, went to Union, Butler county, probably in 1827. Thomas MARTIN and Samuel SMITH came in the late forties. These families held each other in such high esteem that they could think of none so worthy as husbands or as wives as those among themselves. Their positions of separation also drew them close together, so that they naturally found husbands and wives in their own ranks. This had much to do in enabling them to maintain their ideals. One result, however, was the bringing about a marital relationship so intricate that no one themselves knew how to work it out. They so married and intermarried, that the family traits became so diffused and mingled that while differing in name, they came to possess characteristics common to all. The following illustration will show how the ties of marriage interlaced. John ARMSTRONG, Thomas MARTIN, and Samuel SMITH, three close friends, married three sisters, Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth ARMSTRONG. Robin ARMSTRONG, father of John ARMSTRONG, married Eleanor McKEE, sister of Joseph McKEE. Joseph McKEE married a cousin of Robin ARMSTRONG. James BOLE married Elizabeth DODDS, sister of Archie DODDS. John BOLE married Margaret ARMSTRONG, daughter of Robin ARMSTRONG. There is no end to the links of this family relationship. The people could not have built a palatial structure if they wished. They would not have built such a temple if they could. They felt that the gold should be put in the Living Temple, the salvation of souls, the extending of the kingdom, rather than in costly houses of worship. Their modest little church pleased them. The large families filled the pews, and all sat reverent and quiet through the long service. On Communion Sabbaths the sun would be going down as the sacred service came to a close. The Old Meeting House has long since disappeared. On that beautiful knoll of ground, ever since used a burial place. Brookland, a leader in giving, promised $35 as stipend for the first year of Mr. WALKINSHAW's pastorate. The largest contributors pledged, the following amounts; Robert SPROULL $7.50, Joseph McKEE $5.00, A. DODDS $4.00. Possibly the stipends did not average more than $1.00 per member... But the salary was incidental, for the pastor was expected to own a piece of land and house and make a goodly part of his living off the soil by the sweat of his brow. The people also gave of the first fruits of the crops, and would have divided their last crumb with their pastor if he had been in need. But when they paid their stipend for buckwheat, for which there was no market, it was often hard to keep from wearing a threadbare coat in the pulpit... At the Synod of 1840, Mr. WALKINSHAW pledged his congregation to pay annually, $60 for ten years in support of the Theological Seminary... The third pastor was Oliver WYLIE. He was installed on June 24, 1848. During his pastorate, John REED, of Rehoboth, and Joseph DODDS, of Brookland, and John ROSS, of Manchester, were added to the session... During the 28 years of Mr. REED's ministry David ARMSTRONG, William COPELAND, Robert McKEE, Alexander MILLAR, John REED, John McKEE, David McELROY, Samuel McCRUM, Archibald DODDS, Robert McCRACKEN, Peter YOUNG, J. C. DODDS, and David BOYD were added to the session... The building in which we meet today (1922) was erected in 1856... The same year in which the church was built saw the first foreign missionary appointed by Synod and sent to Syria. The man selected was Robert J. Dodds, a son of Brookland, the first and greatest of all the missionaries sent out by the Reformed Presbyterian Church... It is remarkable coincidence that the missionaries (Archibald, Mary E., Robert J. Jr., C. A., and Jane Garrett DODDS) all came from one family. It reveals the greatness of the character of the first missionary, whose spirit was largely shared by his children. Dr. Archie DODDS was returning to the mission field, having brought home his motherless child. His ship was off the coast of Spain when a terrific storm arose. The vessel was wrecked, and Archie was lost... The story of his last hours is clouded in mystery, but he died a hero. Those who were rescued spoke of his saving the helpless, for he was an expert swimmer. Most of the families were large, there being 6, 8, and not infrequently 10 children in a home. Their many descendants are scattered far and wide... the names McKEE, ARMSTRONG, BOLE, DODDS, McELROY, COEPLAND, MARTIN, and others are household words in many parts of the Covenanter Church. Covenanters were always zealous supporters of the cause of freedom. They raised their testimony against slavery, and sought in every way they could to have the stain taken off the Constitution. They were the friends of the downtrodden and the oppressed. They were often charged with being disloyal to the Constitution. But they were guided by the law that is higher than any law made by mere man. They were among the nation's best citizens. Slavery was gnawing at the stand "half free and half slave." The Dred Scott decision, in March 1857, hastened the decision. The South was exultant, and the north was aroused. An outburst of indignation swept over the free States. The underground railroad was busier than ever. Brookland was one of its stations. On one occasion a fugitive was brought to the home of Rev. REED, a man of undaunted courage, and concealed for a week in his study. This slave was young and strong, handsome and alert, almost white, his mother having been an octaroon, and his father a planter and a congressman from North Carolina. One day, two horsemen with long blackwhips came galloping down the road. Mrs. REED, a friend of the friendless, was almost paralyzed when she saw them coming, supposing them to be slave hunters. But to her great relief, being alone, they passed without stopping. A few nights later, David McELROY, conveyed the fugitive to the home of Mr. WHITE, an elder at Rehoboth, and from that place the escaping slave finally reached Canada in safety. The home of Robert SPROULL was one of the stations of the underground railroad along which runaway slaves traveled from the South to Canada. Mary WALKINSHAW, as a girl, saw both colored man and woman at her grandfather's home. Her own home became a station for the fugitives on their perilous journey... Slavery convulsed the nation with the pains and suffering of fratricidal war... Mr. REED preached a series of sermons so filled with patriotism as to cause the enthusiasm of the young men to burn like fire, and 19 of them entered the Union Army. Some 39 men entered the Union Army from the respective societies of the congregation... The Covenanters were charged with being traitors. This charge came from those who hated Lincoln and despised the black man. All men of the North were not loyal to Lincoln, but Covenanters, to the last man, were true to him and to the cause of freedom. A secret plot was hatched out in this neighborhood to plant a flag on the ridgepole of the Brookland church on a certain Sunday night, thinking this would force the congregation to recognize slavery as the flag floated over it on the following Sabbath morning. The plan was frustrated by one of their own number, a godly woman, who revealed the plot to one of the Covenanters. An inspiration came to a number of Brookland's young men and women. A beautiful flag was made by one of the women, and with the knowledge and full sympathy of the pastor. It was raised from the ridgepole of the church. There the Stars and Stripes, ever loved by the Covenanters, floated on the breeze, Sabbath after Sabbath... At the close of the Civil War the cry was raised, "Go West." As a result many homes of Brookland were broken up in the exodus to Iowa and other parts of the West. North Washington (township) was almost wiped out by the Western Migration.