ary 21, 1834, and remained about six years. In 1841, the Rev. John McNair was called to the pastorate and on the 1st of June installed by the Presbytery of New Castle. Under Dr. McNair's ministry the edifice now standing was built and dedicated to the worship of God on May 11, 1851. In the following October, after ten years' service, and against strong solicitation, the pastoral relation was dissolved— not by the New Castle Presbytery, but by the Donegal, which had again come into existence, and within whose limits the Church of Lancaster then was and continues to be.

Soon after the completion of the house of worship, there was unhappily a division of the church, and the formation of what was called the Second Presbyterian Church of Lancaster. This branch called the Rev. Alfred Nevin whose pastorate continued about four and a half years.

The First Church, as the old society came to be called after the division, called the Rev. J. Abeel Baldwin, who was installed over it on Tuesday evening, October 28, 1852, and continued his ministry until April 8, 1856.

On the 9th of July, 1857, Mr. Walter Powell was ordained and installed as pastor of the First Church. During the early part of his ministry the breach between the two branches was healed, and the struggle to maintain separate existence was happily brought to an end in 1858. The pecuniary embarrassments which had greatly hampered the churches in their separate existences were gradually removed. The debt on the church edifice was paid. In 1864 a comfortable house was purchased for the free use of the pastor and family, and the church edifice, chiefly through the exertions of the ladies of the church, was put into a better state of repair.

During the summer of 1867, the health of Mr. Powell, which for some time had been impaired, became so much reduced as to render it impossible for him to perform the arduous duties which were incumbent upon him. The congregation with commendable liberality granted him a six months' leave of absence, but the respite came too late. His disease, which was of an insidious character, gradually sapped his strength until, on Jan. 23, 1868, his Master, whom he had so faithfully served, released him from all earthly labors.

After a vacancy of several months a call was extended to Mr. George Robinson, and by him accepted. On the evening of Sept. 8, 1868, Mr. Robinson was ordained and installed over this church. Present membership, 255.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES IN LANCASTER COUNTY WITH DATES OF THEIR ORGANIZATION.

Donegal, 1722; Pequea, 1724; Middle Octoraro (Bart), about 1727; Chestnut Level, unknown; Leacock, about 1741; Little Britain, unknown; Lancaster, 1763; Columbia, 1807; Coleraine, 1816; Marietta, 1822; Bellevue, 1832; Strasburg, 1832; Mount Joy, 1839; Cedar Grove, 1839; Mount Nebo, 1858; Carnarvon, ; Free Presbyterian Church of Colerain (Octoraro),

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THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.1

The Catholics of Lancaster County, were first organized in 1740. The first Church, St. Mary's, was built in 1745, destroyed by fire in 1760, and rebuilt in 1762. The German and English speaking Catholics worshipped together until 1850; when the congregation had been so largely increased, that it became necessary to build a larger Church; the German portion withdrew, and selected a site in the south-western part of the City, and erected a fine building, under the patronage of St. Joseph; that church, owing to the increase of the congregation, now requires enlargement. Those who still worshipped in the old church, soon found it necessary to erect a larger building also, the foundation of the present edifice was laid in 1852, and the church dedicated in 1856. In January, 1867, a fire in the basement, supposed to have been occasioned, owing to some

1 Contributed by Mr. Peter McConomy.

defect in the flues of the heater, damaged the church considerably, and owing to the defective framing of the roof, it became necessary to remodel the entire church which was re-dedicated on Sunday, May 31, 1968. The archives of St. Mary's Church, exhibit the names of the following Clergymen, who served as Pastors: Fathers Molineaux, Farmer, Schnider, Pellentz, Ailing, Brosius, Hellron, Rosseller, Stafford, Geisler, Homm, Mong,and, Fitzsimmons, Lewermond, Janin and Entzen, from 1740 to 1802; in the latter year, the Rev. Dr. Egan, and the Very Reverend Louis De Barth were stationed at Lancaster. The former was transferred to St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, in 1803; and in 1868, the Dioces; of Philadelphia was formed, which then comprised the States of Pennsylvania, Now Jersey and Delaware. The Rev. Dr. Egan was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia. He died the 224 of July, 1814. His former associate in Lancaster, the Very Reverend De Barth, was appointed Administrator of the Diocese, after the Bishop's decease.

Their successors in the Pastorate of St. Mary's Church, Lancaster, were the Rev. I. Beschter, S. J., Rev. Mr. Byrn, the Rev. Scheufelder, Rev. J. J. Holland, succeeded by the Rev. B. Keenan, who still survives, and although time has made its marks, he still possesses considerable elasticity of spirits, and regularly officiates at the Altar. He is the oldest priest in the Diocese, and ministered to the spiritual wants of the Catholics of Lancaster for nearly half a century, having assumed the duties of his charge in 1823. The Pastors of Lancaster attended, in former times, to the Missions of Milton, Sunbury, Harrisburg, Lebanon, Colebrook. Elizabethtown and Columbia. The old stone church, built in 1762, is still in excellent preservation, though wearing the unmistakable mark of old Father Time. It was used for divine service in 1867, after the fire had occurred, until the repairs on the new church were finished.

It is interesting to look back over the early history of the Catholic Church in Lancaster, to recall the zeal and devotion of its forefathers in the cause of Religion. It is recorded that during the building of the old stone church, the women of the congregation came daily to mix the mortar, while the men gathered the stone from the adjoining farmers, and carried them to the site of the building, where they assisted in the erection of the edifice, considered, at that period, a very fine and commodious church. The Catholic churches in the County, exclusive of those in the City, are St. Peter's and Holy Trinity, of Columbia; St. Peter's, of Elizabethtown, and St. Catherine's, of Drumore township.

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH,1

Universally styled, by the members thereof, the "New Church," as contradistinguished from all other christian denominations, which they collectively regard as the "Old Church;" but by the world in general better known perhaps as Swedenborgians. There has not been a period since the year 1765 when there has not resided within the limits of Lancaster city and county one or more receivers of the doctrines of this church, as revealed through the writings of Swedenborg; yet owing to their paucity of numbers, during the long interval between the above date and the present time, and the absence of all attempts at proselytism, their very existence has almost been unknown to the mass of the population.

Baron Henry Von Buelow, a German nobleman, and a native of Prussia, who in his early years had adopted the military profession, visited America in 1765, and spent some time in Lancaster. He had some time previously embraced the peculiar views of Emanuel Swedenborg, and with a view to the dissemination of those doctrines, had brought with him from Europe a number of works, containing them, for gratuitous distribution and for sale.

About the same period, William Reichenbach, a native of Saxony, and a man of

1 Contributed by Mr. S. S. Rathvon.

classical attainments, left his native country, and immediately on his arrival in Lancaster was appointed professor of mathematics and German literature in Franklin College. This college was located on North Queen street near James, and the building during the Revolutionary War had been used as "Barracks" for the accommodation of soldiers. Afterwards it was known as the "Old Store House," and more recently as "Franklin Row;" it is now occupied by five or six families of some of our most worthy fellow citizens as their private residence.

Through the teaching of Von Buelow, Reichenbach became a receiver of the Doctrines of the New Church and avowed them openly. He afterwards wrote and published several works on the doctrines, one of which was entitled Agathon-published both in English and German-and was favorably received, but has become so rare that it is doubtful whether more than a single copy exists in the county now.

Von Buelow afterwards returned to Europe, but from his efforts, before he left Lancaster, there arose a small band of "receivers," about the year 1788, which has continued with alternately increased and diminished numbers, down to the present day. Among the first, besides Von Buelow and Reichenbach, in this county, who became receivers of the doctrines of the New Church, were Francis Bailey and family, Jacob Carpenter, the intimate friend of Buelow, Frederic Damish, a Saxon, a teacher of music, and a Mr. Eckstein. Subsequently, Joseph Ehrenfried, John Funk, Henry Keffer, intimate friends of Damish-William Girling, formerly a Methodist minister, John Henry Young, Henry Baer, Henry A. Carpenter and wife, Louis C. Jungerich, Charles Frederic Nauman and wife, Frederic J. Kramph, John Robertson, the intimate friend of Girling, Henry Pinkerton and son, Christian Fritz and wife, William H. Benade, previously a Moravian minister, Alexander Officer, L. J. Demuth and others, became receivers of these doctrines, and were members of the Lancaster Society. Of those who became receivers elsewhere and afterwards settled here, either permanently or for a time, were Joseph C. Boardman, David Pancoast and family, Mrs. Ann Kramph, Mrs. Mary Kramph, William Toelle and others.

The Lancaster New Jerusalem Society was organized February 14th, 1836, and although small in number, and unaided by any one outside of their own organization, they purchased a property in East Vine Street, Lancaster city, and erected a small Temple in 1837, since which time, religious services have been held therein, almost every Sunday, down to the present time. This Society was regularly instituted by Rev. Manning B. Roche, of Philadelphia, on the 17th of April, 1836, and was incorporated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, June 8th, 1841. No resident Pastor, regularly elected, has been employed by the Lancaster New Jerusalem Society, except Rev. Isaac Worrell, from October 1839, to April 1840, and Rev. N. C. Burnham, from July 1866, to October 1868; but the ordinances of the Church have been administered semiannually or quarterly, and occasional preaching had, by New Church Pastors and Ministers, ever since the Society was first instituted. The Sunday School was organized in 1840, and has been in operation from that time to the present, under the direction of a Superintendent. In the absence of a Pastor the services are conducted by a Leader. UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST, OR VEREINIGTE BRUEDER.

The founders of this sect were William Otterbein, a German Reformed Minister in charge of the congregation at Lancaster (see German ReForMED) and Martin Boehm, a Mennonite. The origin of the name of this sect is said to have been as follows: About 1758 a large meeting attended by Christians of many denominations took place at Lancaster. Boehm, a man of small stature wearing the Mennonite costume, at the close of a discourse was folded in the arms of Otterbein, a man of liberal dimensions, who exclaimed, "Wir sind Brueder," "We are brethren;" to this incident is ascribed the denominational title of this sect, which exists in Lancster county, but whose statistics I have not been able to secure.

DIVISION VI.

EDUCATIONAL.

The first school seems to have been established by the Seventh Day Baptists, at Ephrata, as early as 1733. They employed a master who taught the primary branches and the classics in German. See Ephrata in Division II. p. 354 sq.

Within a few years from that period, we read of Lutheran and German Reformed Schools, in connection with the respective congregations at Lancaster; they were supplied with teachers, books and bibles by the generosity of European friends, and the zeal of the church authorities at home. The Rev. Michael Schlatter, a German Reformed minister, and an accomplished teacher, sent out at the expense of the Reformed Synod of Amsterdam, in 1746, had an excellent school in operation at that early period. In 1749 the Rev. Leonard Schnell, a Moravian, opened a school at Warwick, which was afterwards transferred to Litiz, and ably conducted by the Rev. B. A. Grube. The first Sunday School in America was opened by Ludwig Hacker, at Ephrata, in 1740.

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Allen, Messrs. Peters, Turner, Benjamin Franklin and Conrad Weiser, were appointed Trustees and Managers of the Public Schools to be established in the province.

An account of the Moravian Schools at Litiz, and the Latin School which ultimately developed into Franklin and Marshall College, is given below. See also Div. II. p. 380 sq. Towards the close of last century private schools and academies were founded in the Borough and County of Lancaster. Under the operation of the Act of Assembly of April 4, 1809, entitled "an act for the education of the poor, gratis," numerous poor children were taught the elementary branches, but the system introduced by said act failing to lead to satisfactory results, another act was passed by the Legislature, April 1, 1822, entitled "an act to provide for the education of children at the public expense within the City and incorporated Boroughs of the County of Lancaster," which provided, that the City and incorporated Boroughs of the County were erected into the "Second School District of the State of Pennsylvania," and that 12 Directors should be annually appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions of the county. It prescribed the duties and powers of the Directors, regulated the admission of children, ordered the adoption of the Lancasterian System and provided the expenses, described the subdivision of the District into sections whenever required, and the mode of its accomplishment. The first and only section of the District was the City of Lancaster.

The Directors appointed by the Court forthwith bought a lot of ground, erected a large and convenient school house, employed teachers of both sexes, adopted the Lancasterian System and were so successful in their conduct of the school that the City of Lancaster forbore for a long time to accept the General School Law of June 13, 1836. But the partiality of the system rendered it very unpopular and at last under the provisions of an act of the Legislature, passed April 14, 1838, the county by a popular vote accepted, with certain modifications, the Common School System.

A brief account of this system, the chief promoters of which are intimately connected with the county, is given in the following extract from Mr. J. R. Sypher's

interesting and useful "School History of Pennsylvania," published at Philadelphia in 1868.

"The Constitution of 1776 provided that 'a school or schools shall be established in every county;' and the Constitution of 1790 provided that 'the arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning.' Comparatively, a large number of academies and public schools were opened under these requirements. In 1833, fiftyfive institutions of this class had been regularly incorporated by the legislature. There were also, at that time, two universities and eight colleges in the State. The charters of many of these required that a specified number of poor children 'should be taught gratis.'

"A law was passed in 1809, which improved on that of 1804, but did not fully accomplish the object for which it had been enacted. it was several times amended, and, finally, in 1827, all the amendments were repealed; yet still, in its operation it came far short of the great results the friends of education aimed to attain. The people had labored earnestly, during thirty years, to devise a system of public schools that would fulfil the constitutional requirement, by providing education for all the youth of the Commonwealth; yet, in 1833, less than 24,000 children attended school at public expense, and most of these were taught by very incompetent teachers. The schools were called 'pauper schools,' and were despised by the rich and shunned by the poor; the children were classified as 'pay' and 'pauper scholars;' thus the law, practically, separated the poor from the rich, and hence failed; for in a republic, no system of education, which makes a distinction on account of wealth or birth, can have the support of the people. "Numerous efforts were put forth to improve the Public Schools in all parts of the State; a remarkable instance of wise legislation, in response to the petitions of the people, is seen in the act passed in 1831, which provided for the appointment of trustees of the public schoolhouse in the town of Landisburg, Perry county, and gave them power to examine teachers for said school, to visit the same once a month, and to dismiss the teachers for misconduct, want of capacity, and negligence.

"In 1827, a society was formed in Philadelphia for the promotion of education in the State; a committee, appointed for that purpose, opened correspondence with the leading men in every county, collected statistics, and secured a union of effort in favor of free schools, that, in 1834, culminated in the enactment of a law which rejected the old idea that only 'pauper children' should be educated at public expense, and provided for the establishment of schools that would be free to all. This was the beginning of the Common School System.

"The act of 1834 inaugurated a new era in education in this State. From that time forward steady progress has been made. At times it was slow, and to many imperceptible; but public sentiment was never stagnant, and legislation never went backward. With this law the foundation of the system of Common Schools now in use was laid. It provided that a tax should be levied on all the taxable property and inhabitants, that townships, boroughs, and wards should be school districts, and that schools should be maintained at public expense. The establishment and supervision of schools in each district were intrusted to a Board of six Directors, to be chosen by the legal voters. The people in each township were allowed to determine by an election, whether the new School system should be adopted or rejected, and an election upon this question might be held once in three years. The Secretary of the Commonwealth was made Superintendent of Schools, and the Legislature was authorized to appropriate funds, annually, from the State Treasury in aid of the work of education.

"In 1835, a powerful effort was made to repeal this law; but through the exertions of Thaddeus Stevens, then a member of the Legislature, aided by Governor Wolf, who promised to use the veto power if necessary, the new system was successfully defended, and free schools were permanently established in Pennsylvania.

"No special efforts were made during the first year to put the system in operation.