AREA HISTORY: Dillsburg Churches, York County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/ _______________________________________________ History of York County, Pennsylvania. John Gibson, Historical Editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886. _______________________________________________ CHURCHES – Page 655 Dillsburg Presbyterian Church – The Presbyterian Church in Dillsburg, ecclesiastically known as the “Monaghan Church,” derives its name from the township in which it was originally located. The exact year of the organization cannot be determined, but preaching services were held as early as 1737. Hence, it is one of the very oldest churches in the county. The original house of worship was a log structure, and stood about a quarter of a mile southwest of the present site at what is known as “the old graveyard.” The committee to judge of the location was appointed in 1760, and it was likely built during the following summer. Tradition says that for some years after the church was built the Indians continued to lurk in the region near to it, or make hostile incursions into the neighborhood, so that for the sake of protection, ramparts were built around the church, and a part of the congregation were accustomed to bring their firearms with them. It also says that the Rev. Dr. John McDowell, afterward provost of the University of Pennsylvania, attributed his conversion, when but a youth of eight years of age, to a sermon preached in that first house of worship by Rev. George Duffield, from Zech ix: 12: “Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope,” in which he took occasion to illustrate, from the surrounding fortifications, the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only sure defense for sinners. The first settled pastor of this church, of whom there is any knowledge, Mr. Duffield, above referred to. Since 1761 he had been pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, and in November, 1769, he was installed over the church of Monaghan for one-third of his time, at a salary of £50 a year. He continued till 1772, when he accepted a call to the Third Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he is said to have established the first prayer meeting ever held in any Presbyterian Church in that city. Mr. Duffield was a man of marked ability, and an earnest and fearless advocate of civil and religious liberty. He was for a while chaplain of the Continental Congress; was one of two who, under the direction of congress, superintended the printing of the first American edition of the Bible in English (published in Philadelphia in 1782); served as colonel in the Revolutionary war; and was the first stated clerk of the Presbyterian General Assembly. His portrait hangs in Independence Hall. His second wife was a sister of Gen. John Armstrong the hero of the battle with the Indians at Kittanning, Penn., whose son was secretary of war under President Madison. Monaghan Church was very loth to part from this her first pastor, and Andrew McDowell, James Dill, Col. Matt Dill, Robert Stephenson and Joseph Dodds were sent to Presbytery to remonstrate against his removal, but he felt constrained to go. The next pastor was Rev. Samuel Waugh, who began his labors in 1782, and whose charge consisted on Monaghan and East Pennsborough (Silver’s Spring) Churches. He was a native of “Carrol’s Tract,” in Adams County, Penn., and graduated at Nassau Hall in 1773, and on the 14th of April, 1783, was married to Eliza, daughter of David Hoge, of what is now Hogestown, Penn. “He was a sound divine, a very acceptable preacher, and highly esteemed by his people,” – “a most worthy and excellent man.” He remained pastor of Monaghan Church till his death in 1807. The following is a copy of the subscription paper for Mr. Waugh’s support. The original is in the hands of Mr. John O’Hail, of Dillsburg: “We, the subscribers, do promise to pay, the sums annexed to our names yearly, on the 1st of May, unto the Rev. Samuel Waugh, or any collector, for his use while he continues minister of the united congregations of East Pennsborough and Monaghan, and we continue in the bounds of said congregation, or in case any of us fail to make payment on the 1st of May aforesaid, we will, before the administration of the sacrament in said year, give a not for said payment on short credit. “Witness our hand April 28, 1791. £ s. d. George Dickey 15 William Barber 10 James Crocket 10 George Crocket 7 7 John Crocket 16 Matthew Trotter 7 6 William Scott 1 Samuel Scott 7 6 Thomas Haines 15 Robert Leech 10 John Lamb 15 10 William Ross 15 John Nesbit 1 8 Alex Nesbit 15 William Nelson 15 Alex Ross 1 2 6 John McClellan 1 William Mitchell 1 10 Andrew Sans 7 6 Allen Torbet 17 6 Charles Brewster 15 Peter Leman 15 John Fulton 10 Daniel Williams 1 5 Andrew Wilson 1 John Anderson 18 9 Graham Anderson 10 Andrew Bailey 10 Samuel Nelson 1 12 6 Henry Logan 1 2 6 Alex Hannah 10 Edward O'Hail 1 William Wall 5 6 Isaac Wall, Jr. 5 James Blair 15 William Gillespie 7 6 Jus Dennison 1 2 6 William Farra 1 John May 15 Thomas Black 15 Thomas Gray 8 4 John Cross 15 Joseph Dickson 1 James McMullen 1 2 Robert Moody 10 6 Thomas Dill 10 Thomas Campbell 1 10 Thomas Campbell 1 10 James Dill 8 Robert Cunningham 1 John Caruthers 1 10 Daniel Carpenter 17 6 James Kennedy 17 6 Thomas Bonner 7 6 John Bonner 7 6 George Robinett 15 George Smith 10 Alex Sanderson 15 John Moorhead 10 Louis Williams 1 10 Lawrence McCafferty 10 William Porter 1 John Porter 12 6 Abram Williams 1 2 5 Joanna Young 7 6 Jessie Fulton 7 6 Daniel McCurdy 1 John Devlin 11 8 George Dill 10 Matt Dill 2 10 Joseph Roseberry 12 6 William Trimble 12 6 John Swan 12 6 John Williams 2 10 Robert Elliott 7 6 Thomas Dill 17 6 John Wilson 1 10 John Bailey 15 Joseph Elliott 17 6 John White 7 9 John Brenkerhoof 7 6 William Dorson 7 6 John Blair 7 6 William Fleming 14 2 Paul Thompson 15 John McCormic 5 Francis Boggs 15 10 George Burns 8 4 John Daugherty 11 3 Joseph Bradely 1 1 3 Daniel Glass 15 David Ayres 15 James McKin 7 6 John Mitchell 15 William Parks 15 Thomas Hummert 7 6 William Morril 7 6 Widow Dorson 7 6 In 1782, the first year of Mr. Waugh’s pastorate, a new church was built and the location changed to the one at present occupied. This was a stone structure, about 50 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 15 feet high to the ceiling, entered by two doors, the one at the south and the other at the east. The pulpit, which was small and elevated, with a sounding board suspended overhead, was at the north side. A small stone building about fifteen square, with a fire- place in the northwest corner, was attached to the north side of the church. This was called “the study,” but was also used as a school-room, a session-room, a prayer-room, and a fuel- room. In March, 1809, the Rev. John Hayes – antecedently Professor of Languages in Dickinson College, where he was graduated in 1805 – became Mr. Waugh’s successor, and continued till 1815. He was a poet of no mean reputation. In 1807, he published a volume entitled “Rural Poems, Moral and Descriptive, to which are added Poems on several Subjects.” He resigned his charge on account of ill health and died a few months afterwards, among his friends in Cumberland, Md. During the pastorate of Mr. Hayes (1813), the church building, described above, was burnt, the fire originating in the small building attached, but in the following year it was repaired, and entirely remodeled inside. After Mr. Hayes retired this church seems to have had no regular pastor for fifteen years. But during much of that time the pulpit was supplied by many different ministers. Among these were Rev. Dr. Alexander McClelland, and Rev. Nathaniel R. Snowden, grandfather of Col. A. Louden Snowden. The Rev. Nathaniel Todd, afterward a venerable preacher and teacher in western Pennsylvania, supplied the congregation for some time, and it was during his incumbency that the old and long cherished Rouse version of the Psalms gave way to the Psalms and Hymns of Watts – a measure which occasioned no little dissatisfaction and alienated some of the members from the church. Of the others who supplied during this long vacancy may be mentioned Rev. Drs. Cathcart, of York; Krebs, of New York; Duffield, of Carlisle, and DeWitt, of Harrisburg. The next pastorate was that of Rev. Anderson B. Quay, which extended from 1830 till 1739. In 1831, this church, in common with the other churches of Carlisle Presbytery, enjoyed a season of refreshing. The meetings at this church, in 1831, were so largely attended that on one occasion, while Rev. James Williamson, of Silver’s Spring, was preaching to those who found room inside the church, Mr. Duffield, of Carlisle, was preaching it to those outside. It was during this pastorate, perhaps, that there occurred the first agitation of the temperance cause in this neighborhood. One Sabbath morning as Mr. Quay was about to enter the pulpit, a note was put into his hand asking him to announce an anti-temperance meeting to be held in the church on a certain day. When the proper time came Mr. Quay read the note and then announced: “There will be no anti-temperance meeting held in this church, or, if there is, I will take my little family by the hand, and leave the place immediately.” That anti-temperance meeting was held outside of the church. Mr. Quay’s pastorate was succeeded by an interval of stated supplies; among them Rev. A. T. McGill, D. D. of Princeton Theological Seminary, and, for two years, Rev. Edmund KcKinney, who afterward went as a missionary among the Indians. April 13, 1842, Rev. Joseph Muray, D. D., then a licentiate of the Presbytery of Carlisle, was ordained and installed and remained sixteen years. His was not only one of the longest pastorates, but, in many respects, the most noteworthy and interesting, through the salary at that time was only $450 per year, this was his first and only charge and was relinquished on account of impaired health. W. D. Patterson a young man then supplied the pulpit for about eighteen months when he died. For a time then the pulpit was filled by Rev. John R. Agnew, an uncle of Mr. Patterson, and in June, 1863, Rev. John O. Proctor was installed as pastor. He, resigning in 1865, was followed by supplies, among whom were Rev. S. S. Orris now of the Princeton College faculty. In October, 1872, Rev. A. W. Hubbard, now a missionary of the American Board Christian Foreign Mission in Sivas, Turkey, began a most earnest and fruitful pastorate of eighteen months. He was followed by Rev. J. Q. A. Fullerton, who remained from June, 1873, till May, 1879, during which time the present very tasteful and commodious parsonage was built. The present incumbent, Rev. I. P. Barbor (to whom we are under many obligations for this sketch), began his labors in the autumn of 1879 and was installed pastor June 14, 1880. The names of the ruling elders of this church prior to 1830 cannot now be given, but the following is a complete list of those who have served since that date: George Crockett, James Porter, James Black, G. W. Howard, George Dare, William Ross, Washington Jones, Jacob Ritner, Jacob B. Hurst, James Clark, Daniel Bailey, Matthew Porter, Washington Williams and John N. Logan. Of the many sons and daughters of this church who have gone forth to honorable service in other fields, may be mentioned Revs. Calvin W., John and Robert Mateer of China, Rev. Thomas Black, Rev. Thomas Elcock, now a venerable pastor in Van Wert, Ohio, Rev. George L. Shearer, D. D., of the American Tract Society, New York, Rev. Fred. E. Shearer, editor of The Occident, San Francisco, Rev. W. H. Logan of Millerstown, Penn., and Rev. B. B. Blair, who, with Rev. Thomas Blaek, died soon after entering the ministry. October 23, 1882, the 100th anniversary of the occupation of the present site of the church was made the occasion of a very delightful reunion of former members and friends, most prominent among the exercises of which was the delivery of historical addresses by Rev. Drs. Joseph A. Murray and George L. Shearer, from whose manuscripts are gleaned most of the facts given above. Methodist Episcopal Church – The first Methodist preacher to visit Dillsburg and hold services, was Elisha Butler, from the Gettysburg Circuit, about the year 1834. The first preaching services were held in the house of Mrs. Marks on Main Street, west corner of first alley west of public school building. Preaching was afterward held in a small house on corner of public square, where now stands the store room of John Smith. After this, in a small schoolhouse east of town, near the old York road. Revs. Brown and Jones were then pastors. The first class was organized about the year 1836, in the house of Mother McGuire, on South Railroad Street, and was composed of William Burns, leader, Mrs. Burns, Mother McGuire, Widow Marks, and Miss Eliza Johnson, (now Mrs. Alex Billifelt). In 1843 the church, on West Main Street, was built. Rev. Thomas Myers was then pastor, with Thomas Fulton, class leader. Mr. Fulton afterward entered the ministry, and John McMullen became leader. The original board of trustees was composed of Thomas Jones; John S. McMullen, Jacob Dorsheimer, John Hyer, Jacob Myer, George Webbert and Robert Nelson. The church was dedicated by Dr. Durban, then president of Dickenson College. The first Sunday-school was organized in the church by Miss Rebecca Culver, then a teacher in the public school, from Carlisle, and Miss Eliza Johnson. The church was repaired and enlarged in 1879. The congregation was served by the following pastors, viz.: Revs. Elisha Butler, Young, Monroe, Jones, Brown, Myers, Keller, Cook, N. S. Buckingham, C. Graham, R. Norris, (Bishop), Hurst, G. W. Dunlap, Prettyman, Alem Brittain, Moorehead, Melville Brittain, J. A. Ross, J. W. Feight, J. B. Shaver, H. R. Bender, C. W. Marshall, G. M. Hoke, F. Rogerson, Dr. Clark, W. A. Carver, R. H. Gilbert, J. Eckersley and J. F. Anderson, present pastor. Present membership is sixty-five, with Alex Billifelt as class leader. The Sunday-school numbers 115 with John Mumper as superintendent. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church – The first religious services under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dillsburg, were held in the schoolhouse, and were conducted by Rev. J. R. Focht. On the 25th of August, 1855, a meeting was held for the purpose of taking into consideration the question of building a church. Nine persons were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions. Of this number but two, H. C. Smyser and George Lau, are now living. December 1, $760 were raised, and on the 15th, a building committee was appointed, and on the same day a lot was purchased on which to build a church, which, by contract, was “to be forty- five feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and eighteen and one-half feet high. The comb of the roof to contain a gallery on one side.” The contractor was George Lau. The building was to cost $1,250. The corner stone was laid May 3, 1856; and the church dedicated November 16, of the same year. Rev. Banjamin Kurtz, D. D., of Baltimore, preached the dedicatory sermon. The congregation was not properly organized, until the spring of 1857, when twenty-four members signed the constitution. The following pastors have served it: J. R. Focht, from March 5, 1855, to March 5, 1859; Aaron Finfrock, from May 26, 1859, to November 26, 1864; J. R. Groff, July 16, 1865, to October, 1866; J. T. Williams, from November 9, 1866, to July 16, 1867; August Babb, from April, 1868, to March, 1869; J. K. Bricker, from March, 1869, to February 1, 1871; D. Sell, from January 1, 1872, to May 10, 1874; H. D. Kuntz, from April 1, 1874, to January, 1875; E. Studebaker, from February 18, 1875, to January 1, 1876; J. F. Deiterich, from January 1, 1876, to October 1, 1877; E. Minter, from November 15, 1877, to March 29, 1881; D. Stock, from May, 1881, to November, 1881; Adam Stump, from November 1, 1881, to present time. Some of these persons were only supplies. The Sunday-school is in a good condition.