Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 183
Records of the Synod of Pittsburgh.
(1802-1832).
Centenary Memorial Volume of
Presbyterianism in Western Pennsyl-
vania. (Papers by Darlington and Veech.)
History of Pittsburgh, by N. B. Craig.
(1851).
History of Pittsburgh, by Sarah H.
Killikelly. (1906).
History of Pittsburgh, by Erasmus
Wilson. (1898).
EARLY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE
MUSKINGUM
VALLEY.
BY C. L. MARTZOLFF, OHIO UNIVERSITY.
The dominant note in the settlement of
the majority of the
colonies was, as we know, religious
freedom. The spirit of
modern history which has as its slogan, "All
men are free,"
found in those days expression in terms
of religion, with the
result that the most of men's acts were
determined by a religious
motive.
While the settlement of the Muskingum
Valley, which in-
cludes practically all of southeastern
and eastern Ohio, was
not prompted by the same reasons which
urged the fathers to
come across the Atlantic and establish
colonies in the name of
religious freedom, yet the fact that
these men were their fathers,
leads us confidently to expect that the
founding of the church
was contemporaneous with the founding of
a settlement.
"Like father, like
son." So, noble sons of noble sires had
learned the experiences of the elders
and had received a thor-
ough training in the traditions, growing
out of the acts which
had made history. We have only to
recall, therefore, that this
section of Ohio was settled in a great
measure by Puritans from
Massachusetts, Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania and New Jer-
sey, and Quakers and Germans, also from
our eastern neighbor,
to at once conclude that the statement
made in the previous
paragraph is a correct one.
While, figuratively speaking, the Lilies
of France once
floated over this section of Ohio, and
we might with some degree
of assurance look for the presence of
the Jesuit missionary in
these parts, yet we have no record of
any of these black cowled
messengers of the Cross ever being in
this region. Yet, we are
quite certain that their influence was
felt upon the Indians who
184
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
made these hills their hunting grounds
as a subsequent statement
will show.
To Christopher Gist, the Man with
Compass and Pen, be-
longs the recorded honor of being the
first to expound the Gospel
in the Muskingum Valley. On his
celebrated journey, to spy out
the land for the benefit of the First
Ohio Company in the win-
ter of 1751, he finds himself with a
motley company of trappers,
traders and Indians at the junction of
the Walhonding and the
Tuscarawas Rivers. It is Christmas Day,
and while he is not
an ordained minister and never studied
theology, he proceeds to
hold services in accordance with the
Episcopalian Book of Prayer,
which he had brought all the way from
the Yadkin in his knap-
sack. He also sought to explain,
according to his own words,
the "doctrine of salvation, faith
and good works," seemingly
much to the satisfaction if not to the
edification of his miscel-
laneous congregation. At least, we are
led to the belief that
Christopher Gist would have made quite
as much of a success
as a missionary as he did a traveler,
writer and diplomat. For
the Indians were immensely pleased. They
wanted Gist to live
with them and to baptize them. They
promised never again to
asten to the French priests, and the
lay-preacher had a hard
time explaining that he was not a
minister.
This same Tuscarawas branch of the
Muskingum Valley
likewise calls to mind the activities of
the noble and consecrated
Moravian Brethren. The events connected
with their attempts
here in Ohio are so well known that only
for the exalted type
of their labors and the intense devotion
to their cause, a passing
notice would be sufficient.
It is around the labors of David
Zeisberger, missionary,
preacher and teacher, that the Moravian
history of Ohio assem-
bles. At the age of fifty, in 1771, we
find him an invited guest
in the wigwam of the chief of the
Delaware Indians in Oxford
Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The
next year, with the
assistance of John Heckewelder, he
establishes his community at
Schoen-Brunn near New Philadelphia. In
the course of a few
years this had grown into a cluster of
Christian communities.
Here dwelt in peace and prosperity many
scores of Indian
families under the leadership of the
devoted missionary and his
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 185
self-sacrificing assistants. The church
erected at Schoen-Brunn
held five hundred, and often its
capacity proved too small for the
congregation. Here on Easter Day 1774
the Easter morning
litany of the Moravian Church was
rendered in the Delaware
language. The Indian Brethren were
taught to work as well as
to worship; to love peace; to hate
fire-water.
Such success was not permitted to
continue. The Revolu-
tion brought on its troubles. Verily a
neutral hath a hard time
of it--loved by none and suspicioned by
all. The crisis was
reached in 1781, when by order of the
British commandant at
Detroit, Zeisberger and his co-workers
were arrested and carried
from the scenes of their labors. Then followed,
the next year,
the awful massacre of ninety of the
Brown Brethren at Gnadden-
hutten by an American militia and the
ship-wreck of his efforts
seemed complete. Then for nigh two-score
years, David Zeis-
berger was a veritable Moses, leading
the remnant of his de-
voted followers from place to place in
the American wilderness.
In 1798 he returned to the Tuscarawas
valley, now an old man,
and at Goshen helped to re-build out of
the ashes new "Tents
of Grace." Here, yet, in this vicinity in several
prosperous
church homes. Moravian Brethren gather
Sunday after Sunday
and worship as did Zeisberger and his
Brown Brethren more
than a century ago.
Of but one other movement belonging to
the period preced-
ing that of actual organized settlement
do we find any record.
In 1785 General Butler, who was sent to
drive the "squatters"
from the land in the Seven Ranges in
what is now on Short Creek
in Harrison county, notes in his Journal
"the people of this coun-
try appear to be much imposed upon by a
sect called Methodists
and are become great fanatics."
This means that the Methodist
circuit-rider had made his appearance
with the first sporadic set-
tlement. We have the record that two
years later (1787) Rev.
George Callahan, of the Virginia
District, preached to these same
people at Carpenter's Fort, on Short
Creek.
The reference to fanatical Methodists
leads us to remark
that the intolerance of the various
sects for each other was simply
appalling compared with our views on
such matters today.
Something similar to the above is found
in the records of a Lu-
186
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
theran missionary, who inquired once of
a Methodist brother if
there were any German Lutherans in the
vicinity. The reply was
that there were none, that all they had
was a "pack of corrupted
Baptists."
At this place it is quite appropriate to
parenthetically call
attention to the oft-repeated,
"education, religion, and morality"
clause of the famous Ordinance of 1787,
under whose organic
control the settlements of Ohio were now
to be established. This
is ever regarded as a fundamental
guarantee for the encourage-
ment and protection of religious
development in the Northwest
Territory.
In this connection, it is likewise well
to be reminded of the
bargain struck by Manasseh Cutler with
the dying Congress of
the Confederation, viz., the giving as a
perpetual endowment of
one thirty-sixth of all lands in the
Ohio Company's Purchase
for the support of the churches which
might be established. This
"section twenty-nine" is quite
interesting enough and there is suf-
ficient material connected with its
history alone to warrant the
consideration of a paper longer than
this is going to be. Suffice
it to say these expressions of interest
in religious matters mani-
festly indicated the character of the
men whom we regard as
the fathers of the Commonwealth. It is
therefore easy to see why
so many of the original settlements were
made in connection with
the church, the minister usually coming
with his people.
But it is not easy to explain why the
Marietta settlers, al-
though they held services from the
beginning, did not organize
a congregation for eight years after
their settlement was made.
The first sermon seems to have been
preached by the Rev.
Daniel Breck on Sunday, July 20, 1788. The
services were con-
ducted in the same bower where a few
weeks before they had
held their Fourth of July exercises.
There were about 300
present. The reverend gentleman remained
at Marietta about
a month and preached for them each
Sunday during his stay.
The day after he left, Dr. Manasseh
Cutler arrived and for three
successive Sundays he preached at the
block-house. From
now till a regular pastor, Daniel Story,
of Boston, arrived in
the spring of 1789, it seems that
different laymen acted in the
preacher's capacity. The Rev. Mr. Story's salary was the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 187
equivalent of about five dollars a week
and his board, a part
of his salary being paid out of the
Treasury of the Ohio Com-
pany. Soon preaching stations were
established at Waterford
and Belpre, Mr. Story attending there
also.
In December, 1796, steps were taken for
the organization
of a congregation. A comprehensive
confession of faith and a
covenant was drawn which might be easily
subscribed to by both
Congregationalists and Presbyterians.
Rev. Mr. Story, who had
in the meantime returned to the East,
was called as the regular
pastor. His ordination occurred in
Massachusetts at the hands
of Dr. Cutler, and in 1799 he returned
to take charge of the
congregation, which he served till within
a few months of his
death in 1804. This congregation is
still in existence and wor-
ships in what is known as the
"Two-Horn Church" in Marietta.
In these days of wonderful Sunday School
activity, it is
interesting to be reminded of the first
one in Ohio. During the
Indian Wars, which lasted from 1791
till 1795, the officers at
Marietta ordered the families to retire
within the fortifications.
About thirty families took refuge within
the stockade at Campus
Martius. Among them was the wife of a
settler, Mrs. Mary
Bird Lake, a woman of philanthropic
spirit. She conceived the
idea of assembling the children, who
were wont to play, in the
stockade on Sunday afternoons and
teaching them Scripture les-
sons and portions of the Catechism. She
continued these services
till within a year of her death in 1796.
She is said to lie in an
unmarked grave at Rainbow, about eight
miles from Marietta.
In point of time the Presbyterians were
the next to leave
their impress on the Muskingum Valley,
although this denomina-
tion had succeeded in organizing
congregations at both Cincin-
nati and Chillicothe previously. These
first movements of Pres-
byterianism in the Muskingum country are
difficult to separate
from those across the ridge on the many
streams that flow into
the Ohio in the counties of Jefferson,
Harrison, Belmont and
Monroe. They all belong together. The
congregation organized
at Short Creek, Jefferson County, in
1797, embraced the region
on both sides of the divide. Soon it was
divided owing to in-
crease of population: then in a few
years it was again separated.
By this process of division as the
result of addition, the star of
188 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Presbyterianism moved westward. And it
was rapid. In 1803,
it had reached Newark, when the Rev.
John Wright, a mission-
ary, arrived in that city then
consisting of six log cabins and a
tavern. There was just one Presbyterian
family in town. The
town was full of people who had come to
attend a horse race
the next day, although it was Sunday.
Needless to say, the
people were mostly full, too. The
minister was importuned to
join in their hilarity and threatened a
ducking if he refused.
Upon learning that he was a member of
the cloth, they desisted
and offered to attend his services the
next day if he would post-
pone it till after the races. Not
complying with this generous
offer, he preached twice, the second
time on Sabbath desecration.
Whether the crowd was penitent or not,
we do not know, but
one of the horse racers acted as deacon
by taking up a collection.
He collected seven dollars. Three years
later a congregation
was established.
The first Presbyterian church in what is
now Guernsey
County was established at Cumberland in
1812. As intimated be-
fore, numerous Quakers from Pennsylvania
and North Carolina
were among the settlers of Eastern Ohio.
Like the Presbyterians,
they soon spilled across the ridge into
the Muskingum head-
waters. It was in 1800 that the first
Friends' meeting west of
the Ohio River was held. Unlike the
Presbyterians perhaps be-
cause they were fewer in number they did
not spread very far
westward into the Muskingum Valley. The
church on Stillwater
in the western part of Belmont county
was organized in 1804
and the first sermon preached was by a
woman named Ruth Bos-
well. The congregation is still in a
flourishing state.
The Lutheran movement was not so
extended, since the
German element was not so plentiful at
an early date. The
upper courses of the Tuscarawas,
however, saw quite a few of
this denomination seek the rich valleys.
As early as 1805, Rev.
William Foster was sent as a missionary
to Ohio, looking up the
scattered German settlements. At New
Reading in Perry
County, in 1805, he organized the first
congregation of the Lu-
theran faith. This congregation is still
active as is another one
organized the next year a few miles
away. Rev. Foster also
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 189
established the church at Somerset in
1812. The building boasted
of a genuine pipe organ, built by one of
the members. Here six
years later the Ohio Synod was
organized.
Mention has already been made of the
coming of the itiner-
ant Methodist preacher. In 1795-96 Revs.
Samuel Hill and John
Reynolds rode a circuit extending from
the Muskingum river
to Pittsburgh and Washington County,
Pennsylvania, on the east.
In the records of Bishop Asbury we find
that renowned
traveling preacher passing through the
Muskingum country on
various occasions. This can also be said
of the Reverend J. B.
Finley, surveyor, Indian scout, and
divine, one of the first travel-
ing evangelists in the state. He had
come from North Carolina
and he preached all over Ohio when it
was entirely a wilderness.
The Catholic church naturally did not
have many advocates
among the early Ohioans when we recall
their respective nation-
alities. So we can not look for much
activity except in isolated
cases. Such a one is the St. Michael
settlement on Duck Creek
in Noble county. Here in 1803, one James
Archer brought his
numerous family from Virginia and
originated what is still
known as the Archer settlement. Being a
devout Catholic, he
at once began religious services, which
have been maintained
ever since three church buildings have
been erected in the cen-
tury of its history and the congregation
is still a strong and pros-
perous one.
Only a few years subsequent, Bishop
Fenwick, the mission-
ary priest of Ohio, in traveling over
the famous Zane's Trace,
reached the tavern of John Fink at
Somerset. Upon discovering
that his host was a Catholic, he
celebrated mass within the rude
home of the pioneer. Bishop Fenwick was
a priest of the
Dominican Order which had established a
convent at St. Rose,
Kentucky.
The Ditto and Fink families had entered
at the land office
three hundred and twenty-nine acres
located two miles south
of Somerset. This they donated to Father
Fenwick for the pur-
pose of establishing a church and
convent of the Dominican
Order. At the beginning, the
congregation consisted of but six
families. The church and convent is
still in existence and from
190
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the beginning to within a few years it
was the headquarters of
that Order in America. From its halls
its preachers went into
all parts of the country.
We now find our time gone and we are
only getting into
out subject. Other events are quite as
interesting and valuable
but we have restricted ourselves to the
very first as closely as
possible, and the half has not been
told.
Some one ought to write a history of the
first forty years
of religious development in Ohio. With
its account of God-
fearing men and women, who hungered for
the Manna of Life
in their wilderness home, with its story
of the splendid band of
consecrated men of God, who had but one
passion, namely, to
win souls, with its narrative of
struggle and sacrifice to build
these first temples. Nothing in our
state history has such ab-
sorbing interest, such vital realities
and such permanent results
in the establishment of our
Commonwealth.
EARLY NEWSPAPERS IN THE VIRGINIAS.
DR. HENRY S. GREEN.
Sir William Berkeley, twice governor of Virginia, made
answer to the inquiries of the Lords of
the Committee for the
Colonies in 1671, during his second term
of office, and one of
his replies to their questionings was as
follows:
"I thank God that we have not free
schools nor printing, and I
hope we shall not have these hundred
years; for learning has brought
disobedience and heresy and sects into
the world, and printing has
divulged them and libels against the
government. God keep us from
both."
This pious protest of Governor Berkeley
was uttered more
than thirty years after the importation
of a press into the colony
of Massachusetts and nearly forty years
after the founding of
Harvard, and it has been held to
indicate that the cavalier civil-
ization which grew up about the
Jamestown settlement was more
conservative in its attitude toward
learning and literature than
the puritan civilization of New England.
However, the printer's
devil began to get in his work in
Virginia long before the expira-
tion of the hundred years' respite for
which Governor Berkeley