FROM THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH
DIOCESAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
325 Oliver Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
(412) 281-6131
June 29, 1989

This is a copy of several pages from the 1957 booklet put out by the Trinity Episcopal Church in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Connellsville is south of Pittsburgh in Fayette County.

A COPY OF A SERMON GIVEN IN 1880 BY THE REV. W. G. STONER EXACTLY AS HE HAD WRITTEN IT IN OUR CHURCH BOOK.

As the year 1880 marked a period of a century from the time when the services of the Church were first had in the vicinity of what is now Connellsville and New Haven, so the 16 day of December was selected as the day on which to hold a commemorative service. On that day (Thursday) at 10:45 A. M., there were present at Trinity Church, Rev. Dean R. L. Smith, Rev. L. D. Day of Brownsville, and the Rector, Rev. W. G. Stoner who read the following paper, viz:

"On the record of Trinity Church, New Haven, now in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, under the head of 'Ministers who have officiated in this (Trinity) parish,' occurs this statement, viz: "1780-90, Rev. Mitchell." It is thus shown that, at this present time, an entire century has elapsed, since the first recorded notice of the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church is presented. No statement whatever is made as to who, at that date, constituted the membership of the Church, what were their numbers, or where it was they were accustomed to assemble for worship. Nor is anything further to be obtained concerning the then officiating clergyman. We have his surname only, together with the recorded item that for ten years he officiated in this vicinity as a Missionary of the Church; nothing more. Fortunately, however, all sources of information, with regard to the Church people of that early day are not completely cut off. And in referring to these sources, we are led to mention that, in the year 1780, the population of what is now known as Fayette County at that day, however, being embraced in Westmoreland was estimated at between fifty and a hundred persons; the estimate of a hundred, being the utmost extent. Previous to that year, (1780) and down to 1759, there was not found in this entire area of country, one solitary white inhabitant.

In 1752, W. Christopher Gist, a person who, from his daring intrepidity, was styled the Daniel Boone of Fayette County, and who, two years before this had been sent out, by what was known as "The Ohio Company," to explore the country and to make a report, concluded in 1752, a treaty with the Indians, in behalf of all who might emigrate to this region; as he also settled the title to the lands, in the company he represented. This person himself, made a settlement on the tract of land, since named Mt. Braddock, and he succeeded in inducing eleven families to locate in this vicinity. A portion of these families constituted the first Episcopalians of this section of the country. In connection with that early day (1759) we meet the name of the Rev. Dr. Allison, who is referred to as the Chaplain of a small detachment of 200 men, who were sent out to open a roadway in this region. This person who as an undoubted clergyman of the Church, had regular Sunday services, could not but have been the first Christian minister that ever preached the doctrines of the Gospel in these parts.

At a later day than this, yet still prior to the Revolutionary War, we are made ware that there came to this vicinity, as a Church Clergyman, the Rev. Daniel McKinnon, though where he resided, cannot be ascertained. Neither do we know at what points he ministered, except that his name and labors are associated with the Church of Beaver. In the commencement of the contests between the mother country and the colonies, this person sailed for England, of which country he was a native, leaving three daughters to be educated at Fredericktown, Maryland. Mr. McKinnon never returned to these shores. The vessel on which he embarked, is stated to have been lost at sea and all who were on board to have perished. Of those daughters, one -Ann McKinnon-was subsequently married to Thomas Rogers, from whom have descended Mrs. Catherine Banning-formerly Mrs. Catherine Torrence-and her family Mr. George A. and Mr. Thomas R. Torrence, and Mrs. Mary Jane Orth, now deceased. Mrs. Ella Gibson, now residing in the vicinity of Connellsville, and a communicant of this (Trinity) Church, is also a descendant of Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. Another of the daughters became the wife of Mr. Benori Dawson, and these made their place of residence at Beaver. The other daughter became the wife of Mr. Bevington; these persons found settlement in the vicinity of Chillicothe. This being then a wild, and as it was regarded, remote region, though beautifully situated on the west bank of Scioto River.

One hundred years ago, there was a resident in this vicinity, as Episcopalians, Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Ann Rogers, whose names we have already mentioned, Colonel and Mrs. Isaac Meason, with probably a Mr. and Mrs. Wells. Twelve years before this date, being in 1768, Colonel William Crawford, with his family, settled on the west of the Youghiogheny River, and a short distance below what is now New Haven. The name of Colonel Crawford, together with his son and son-in-law Captain William Harrison, have each been rendored painfully memorable by the terribleness of the fate to which they were subjected, being tortured to death by the Wyandotte Indians, at Sandusky, in the month of June, 1782. Whether the Colonel and his son-in-law were identified with the Church, as members, is unknown; yet Mrs. Crawford and her daughter Ophelia Harrison, were known as such.

At an early day there were here Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gibbs, and their daughter, Anna, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Moore, Mr. Abram Baldwin, and his wife Larch, Mrs. Ann Norton, sister of Mr. Baldwin; Mrs. Elizabeth Fell, and others. But, while these all belong to the past, their years do not go so far back, as that they can be numbered with the few, who as Churchmen and Churchwomen, date in the year 1780. Trinity was organized as such in the year 1817, and unquestionably these several persons were identified with it at that period.

While it is a matter of great gratification, to be able to call up the names of those who, at so early a day, constituted the Church people of this vicinity, few, indeed, as they were-it is also gratifying to be able to designate the locality where they were accustomed to meet for worship. Although no record of the fact remains to us, specifying the identical spot, yet it is well known that years ago and running back to a time interior to an actual century, there stood, on the identical site, where now is erected the brick school house in Connellsville, such a structure as the condition of the frontier settler would, necessarily, induce him to rear. It was a rude log building, thirty feet square, and was designed as well for a place of public worship as for purposes of education. It was in that unpretending building, and for many successive years, the service of the Church was maintained.

Of the clergy who officiated in this Parish, it may be mentioned that following the name of the Rev. Mitchell, is that of the Rev. John Clay, D. D., who labored here in the early part of this century. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Johnson, during whose administration, Trinity Church was organized. Following Mr. Johnson, was Rev. Jackson Kemper, D. D., who subsequently was consecrated as Bishop of the Northwest. Then the Rev. Dean Richmond, Rev. John Phillip Bausman, Rev. Henry H. Pfiffer, Rev. Lyman N. Freeman, Rev. Silas Freeman, in whose time (1835) the Sunday School was established. Then the Rev. John J. Kerr, the Rev. John J. McElhinney, now professor in the Theo. Seminary in Va., who, after having served the Church here in 1840, returned to the parish in 1842, the interval having been filled by the Rev. Wm. W. Arnett. Then occurs the name of Rev. Kensey J. Stewart, the Rev. Edward Walker, the Rev. W. J. Hilton, the Rev's. N. M. Jones and Samuel Crowell. Following these were the Rev. John G. Furey, the Rev. H. L. Wilcoxin, the Rev. George Hall, the Rev. Charles W.