Sunday, November 7, 2010

A Brief History of the English Tea

In the fall of 1917 Monongahela was seized by the patriotic fervor that was sweeping the nation because of the United States’ recent entry into what would become known as World War I. The US Army found itself ill prepared for the miserable conditions of trench warfare on the front in France. The uniforms provided to American soldiers were not protecting them from the cold and wet of the trenches, and so a massive campaign was started on the home front to provide socks, mufflers, scarves and other knit goods to the boys at the front. Almost daily the Monongahela Republican was running advertisements for knitting parties held by the women of Eastern Star, the “Queen Esthers” of the First Methodist Church, the Lydia Bible Class of the First Baptist Church, and a dozen other organizations along with advertisements for where to get the best khaki yarn.

At St. Paul’s the knitting was the responsibility of the St. Margaret’s Guild. In 1917 knitting, accompanied by music on the Victrola and player piano, was the main activity of all their meetings. Back then, the main fundraiser of the Guild was a bazaar held in early December of each year since about 1908. In the fall of 1917 it was decided that a turkey dinner would be added to the bazaar to fund the Guild’s knitting operation. This dinner, which would eventually become what we call “the English Tea”, was first held on December 14, 1917.

Although we know little about the first English Tea it must have been a success because St. Margaret’s Guild decided to keep doing it long after the need for knitting had passed. On December 8, 1926, the English Tea was one of the first major public events held in the new Parish Hall. That year there was an increase in the price for the dinner, for adults it was $1.00, and children were 50¢. That year there was such a demand for dinner, that people had to be turned away.

One of the strangest things about the English Tea is that it is called “the English Tea” and yet it seems that it was never intended to be like a traditional tea that one might find in England. The most likely explanation for this was the Rev. John Norman, who was serving in his fortieth and last year as rector of St. Paul’s in 1917. Norman was very keen to connect St. Paul’s to its Anglican roots and so started many English-themed organizations and events, including soccer and cricket teams. It was probably as part of that initiative that the dinner was first billed as an “English Tea.”

Over the years the bazaar and the tea became separate events, the tea was moved to early November and the menu changed from turkey to ham. Eventually the bazaar and the St. Margaret’s Guild would fade away but the English Tea still remains. For ninety-three years now St. Paul’s has put on its best and invited the town in for supper. It is one of the enduring traditions that makes St. Paul’s what it is and it got its start in the singularly Christian act of providing warmth for those who were freezing, and a touch of home to boys who were suffering far away.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

St. Paul's Millionaire


For the most part the parishioners of St. Paul’s over the past 150 years have not been rich or famous people, but the ordinary faithful folk of Monongahela. There is, however, one notable exception, a bona fide millionaire coal baron. Mr. William Ivill Jones worshiped with his wife and young children at St. Paul’s Church. Jones was quite active in the life of the church. He served as a vestryman and, for a time, as junior warden. The Jones family donated one of the stained glass windows on the north side of the church.

Jones’ father owned the Pittsburgh-Buffalo Company which operated coal mines all over western Pennsylvania. William Jones was the secretary of the firm. He was a well loved figure in turn-of-the-century Monongahela and was involved in many community organizations and beneficent orders.

When he unexpectedly died at age thirty-five in 1905, his funeral was one of the most heavily attended and extravagant services ever held in our church. Below is the Monongahela Valley Republican’s account of the funeral, dated December 7, 1905:


Grave Closes Over Honored Citizen
Hundreds of Sorrowing Friends Brave the Chilly
Weather to do Homage to all That is Mortal
of William Ivill Jones.


The vast concourse of people who turned out Sunday afternoon to attend the funeral of W. I. Jones at St. Paul's Episcopal Church was a touching and fitting tribute to the man and speaks volumes for the esteem in which he was held. All classes of people from every walk of life honored and respected him and it was therefore not surprising that the church was unable to furnish even standing room for those who gathered to do homage to the man, whose friends were legion, and to take one parting look at those once comely features now cold in death.

Shortly after two o'clock the cortege left the late home on East Main Street. Mr. Jones' two brothers-in-law, William Holsing, of Canonsburg, and James Ternent, of this city, and his four brothers acted as pall-bearers at house and at the cemetery. At the church the Elks had charge of the services and R. E. Byers, Prof. C. B. Wolford, F. B. Wickerham, James P. Moore, F. R. Colvin and Fred Cooper were the pall-bearers. The beautiful Episcopal ritual was used, however, and Rev. J. P. Norman read a passage from the fifteenth chapter of Corinthians, commencing with the 20th verse.

The church was entirely filled, with the exception of a few seats in front reserved for the family and immediate friends, when a dirge, sadly beautiful, was played on the pipe organ by Prof. Grundhoffer and the surpliced choir-boys marched down the center aisle, followed by the members of the choir and the pall-bearers, who slowly bore the rich casket in which silently reposed all that was mortal of William Ivill Jones. Then came the heartbroken widow, the three little children, the grey-haired father and the bereaved brothers and sisters. All hearts go out to Mrs. Jones and her children in the hour of their affliction...

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Rev. John Palmer Norman - Part 2

We still feel the legacy of the Rev. John P. Norman at St. Paul’s today. We can thank him for the peel of the tower bell, the light streaming through the stained glass windows, and for many of traditions which we still observe. Nearly half of everyone ever baptized at St. Paul’s was baptized by The Rev. Norman.

During many lean years, St. Paul’s was kept financially afloat because of gifts from Norman’s wealthy Pittsburgh friends. Because of their financial assistance, the church was able to support a professional organist as well as a boys’ choir that was renowned throughout the diocese during most of Norman’s tenure.

In 1891, Norman, with the blessing of St. Paul’s vestry, began missionary work in Charleroi, which would lead to the creation of St. Mary’s Church. Norman’s high church sensibility still influences the way St. Paul’s and St. Mary’s churches worship. He also served churches in West Brownsville and McKeesport during his time here, but his primary loyalty was always to St. Paul’s.

Norman was well known for many of his eccentricities as well as his dedicated service. He had “scandalous weakness” of chewing tobacco, and drank his coffee hotter than anyone else could stand. He was famous for travelling around the community on horseback to visit parishioners, even in his old age. In 1901 Norman broke his leg, but continued to serve, celebrating the Holy Eucharist and baptizing infants (much to their parents’ dismay) on crutches.

The Rev. Norman was very community minded as well. He served on the Monongahela School Board for many years and was active in the Masons and the Grand Army of the Republic (a Civil War veterans’ organization). Norman was instrumental in starting Monongahela’s first Kindergarten and gave large amounts of his own money to fund community vaccination programs. He coached community soccer and cricket teams and contributed many articles and book reviews to local newspapers. He once even got St. Paul’s mentioned in the New York Times for a letter that he had written to Congress.

Emma, The Rev. Norman’s wife, was also very active in parish life. She led the St. Margaret’s Guild for many years and organized many fundraisers and social events like the first English Tea. Together the Normans lived in the rectory which stood across the street from the church, with their invalid daughter. The Rev. John P. Norman retired from ministry in 1918, and moved to Cochranton, Pennsylvania where he died in 1923.

In its 150 years St. Paul’s church has had thousands of parishioners and a total of forty-five rectors. Among all those people, it is certainly safe to say that no single person has loved this church more or served it more diligently than the Rev. John Palmer Norman.

The Rev. John Palmer Norman - Part 1

In the history of St. Paul’s Church in Monongahela, one figure stands out from all others. That figure is the Rev. Dr. John Palmer Norman. The Rev. Norman served twice as Rector of this parish from 1872 – 1875 and from 1880 – 1918, for a total of forty-one years, nearly a full third of the time that the church has existed.

Little is known about Norman’s early life. He was born in 1836 in Centre County, Pennsylvania and at some point became a medical doctor. During the Civil War he served in the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry. At the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 the regimental surgeon was killed on the field during intense fighting and Norman took his place caring for the regiment’s wounded. He would spend the rest of his military service as the Surgeon of the 84th.
After the war Norman was practicing medicine in Clarion County when he was first introduced to the Episcopal Church and befriended Bishop Kerfoot who encouraged him to enter the ordained ministry. Norman first came in Monongahela in March 1872 (aboard a side-wheel steamboat) as a deacon to serve St. Paul’s and Old West.

When Norman arrived here the missionary work in Monongahela was at a low point. There had been some scandal concerning our second Rector, The Rev. John Linskea, which left the congregation in disarray, the priest defrocked, and the church property endangered by sheriff’s sale. Norman was not discouraged though and set right to work restoring the parish. In a matter of few short weeks, and despite the death of his only son, Norman had the congregation and church school up and running again and presented fourteen for confirmation in May of 1872.

In 1875, Bishop Kerfoot transferred Norman to St. Johns – Lawrenceville, and again the situation in Monongahela declined. In five years there were three different rectors, another scandal which ended in the priest being defrocked, and an entire year when the church property was abandoned. In 1880 Kerfoot, now on his deathbed, reassigned Norman to Monongahela with the instruction to “Hold on to that place – never let it go.”

The Rev. Norman, now fully intending to spend the rest of his career in Monongahela, immediately sprung into action. He oversaw the completion of the church building, raised the funds among his wealthy friends for the purchase of the tower bell, arranged for a used organ to be installed, started the first choir, prepared thirteen for confirmation and organized the donation of the stained glass windows. He did all of this, as well as eradicate the parish’s debt, in the first year.

Bishop Kerfoot: A Man Full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.



The first Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. John Barrett Kerfoot (seen here) was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1816 and consecrated Bishop at Trinity Cathedral on January 25, 1866. On February 1, 1866 he made his first visit to the Monongahela Episcopal Mission and was pleased with the work being done here. He returned to lay the cornerstone of the church on September 3, 1866. It was in honor of Kerfoot’s consecration on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul that our church was named and it is to him that our altar is dedicated

Bishop Kerfoot’s great affection for and special relationship with St. Paul’s is attested to by the Rev. John Norman. The following is Norman’s account of his assignment to Monongahela by Bishop Kerfoot, written in 1884:

In April 1880, the present Rector was placed in charge of this Parish… by the Bishop of the Diocese, who was then prostrated by the illness which eventually proved fatal. He was not able then, or afterwards, to leave his room and yet none the less felt “the care of all the churches coming upon him daily.” St. Paul’s Church was ever dear to him and his concern for her welfare and success continued undiminished as long as his life was spared. I well remember my first visit to this Parish in April 1880. On my return I called to see the Bishop, as he had requested I should do, and told him about the Church and her work which I found less discouraging than had been feared. When I told him how warmly I was welcomed and that much interest was manifested, and an earnest desire felt for services, the look of care and concern that at times was to be seen during his illness vanished, his face brightened, his whole manner changed and grasping my hand he exclaimed, “Hold on to that place – never let it go!” I felt then, and have since often felt, that if we all loved God’s Zion, as our First Bishop loved her, most assuredly “Peace would be within her walls and plenteousness within her palaces.”

Norman took Kerfoot’s advice seriously and never did let St. Paul’s go. He remained here for the rest of his career, nearly forty years. The Rev. Norman also leaves us this prayer in remembrance of our first Bishop:

May the Divine Master whom Bishop Kerfoot so dearly loved and in whose service he cheerfully spent and was spent, give us grace that as he was, so we may be, full of good works and that being “full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,” much people may be added to the Church, not indeed through any merit in us, but that seeing our good works, many may glorify the heavenly Father, who alone inspires us to do them. Amen.
(the dedication plate of St. Paul's altar is seen here)

An Energetic and Self-sacrificing Rector: The Rev. Henry MacKay



The first rector of St. Paul’s Church was the Rev. Henry MacKay (pronounced “Mac-eye”) (seen here as a young man) A Scotsman, MacKay was born on the Rock of Gibraltar on June 15, 1822. In Canon Richard Davies 1957 history of our parish it was reported that MacKay had earlier been a missionary in Bermuda before coming here. Discussions with MacKay’s great-grandson, Mr. Edwin Shaw of Juneau, Alaska, however have revealed that this was likely not the case. According to Mr. Shaw, MacKay first came to America because he did not want to work in his family’s whiskey distillery in Scotland.

In any case, MacKay was ordained to the priesthood on October 24, 1859 by Bishop Samuel Bowman, and served as a missionary in Beaver County before coming to Monongahela. The Rev. Norman writes of the years of MacKay’s ministry here during the Civil War:

For several years little more could be done than to keep the little flock together, and even this was a difficult and delicate task during those feverish excitements that disturbed the late Rebellion. It is a proof of faithful and successful pastoral work, that amidst such trials and distracting circumstances, no material loss should be sustained in numbers, nor spiritual decay be felt in the work…

MacKay was instrumental in the organization and fundraising for the construction of our current church building. On September 3, 1866, the cornerstone was laid by the Rt. Rev. John Kerfoot, first bishop of Pittsburgh. In his official diary Bishop Kerfoot wrote that he was pleased to find in Monongahela a “vigorous parish” with an “energetic and self-sacrificing” rector striving hard to complete their house of worship.

In 1869, the church building still unfinished, the Rev. MacKay was called away from Monongahela to do missionary work in the eastern parts of Butler County. MacKay later spent most of his career serving a parish in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts. In 1883 MacKay was present at the consecration of St. Paul’s Church building and “saw his long-deferred hopes fulfilled and realized that his labor had not been in vain”

After a long and devoted career in the ministry the Rev. Henry MacKay (seen here in later years) retired westward to New Mexico. There he was active in many successful and important business ventures. He died in 1906 and is buried in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Parish is Established


On November 18, 1863 a meeting was held by the Episcopal Mission of Monongahela City with the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Alonzo Potter, in attendance. Bishop Potter (seen here) later reported that at Monongahela he found:
“A vigorous congregation, with well conducted services, a large Sunday School, earnestly instructed in the principles and duties of our holy faith; a most eligible property purchased and paid for, with a home for the missionary already on it, and ample room left for a large Church and its proper accompaniments in the future of that now reviving town;”

It was at this meeting that the parish was organized, a charter adopted, our first vestry elected with Mr. John Markell, mayor of Monongahela (seen here) as senior warden and our first rector, the Rev. Henry MacKay, called. The members also pledged $2,200 for the construction of a church building, which was at the time a quite impressive sum.
For two years St. Paul’s would be a parish of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The members of St. Paul’s church were very active in the creation of the new Diocese in Pittsburgh in 1865

Thursday, August 19, 2010

A Missionary for Monongahela

On October 1, 1862, after more than two years of meeting together and maintaining a Sunday School, the small band of Anglicans in Monongahela City was finally assigned a clergyman to conduct regular services. This missionary, the first official shepherd of our flock, was the Reverend William Pray TenBroeck (seen here).

Born on June 13, 1841, TenBroeck graduated from Nashotah House Seminary. On Trinity Sunday in 1862 he was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Kemper of Wisconsin, and that fall he reported to Monongahela. In addition to his duties here was also initially assigned to congregations in Connellsville and Mount Braddock as well as Old West. He made three visits to Old West before deciding that the low attendance did not warrant the treacherous journey. After the priest of St. Peters – Uniontown began serving Connellsville and Mount Braddock; TenBroeck could devote all of his time to Monongahela but did so only for a couple of months. On January 1, 1863 TenBroeck broke ground for a new church which he had planted along the Ohio River, St. Stephen’s - Sewickley. Thereafter he came to Monongahela only once a month. Later in 1863 when the Monongahela Mission was organized into St. Paul’s Church, TenBroeck left to serve at Sewickley full-time.

The Reverend TenBroeck reported of his activities during his short time here to the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania: TenBroeck did present those seven candidates, St. Paul’s first confirmands, to the Right Reverend William Bacon Stevens (seen here), Suffragan Bishop of Pennsylvania, during St. Paul’s fist episcopal visitation in 1862.

In 1865, Tenbroeck was ordained priest in Pittsburgh but soon thereafter returned to the west. He served parishes throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota, and was an influential figure in both dioceses. In 1892, TenBroeck accepted the position of Professor of Church History and Polity and Canon Law at Seabury Divinity School in Fairbault, Minnesota. In 1903 he was awarded, by Seabury, a Doctor of Divinity degree. The Reverend William Pray TenBroeck died on October 12, 1913, he was survived by four sons, three of which were priests in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

It was said of Rev. TenBroeck “He was a forceful speaker and an eloquent preacher, and as a parish priest became the confidant of all his parishioners and held their affections long after his pastorate ceased.”

Many thanks go to Jamie Mair of Christ Church in Woodbury, Minnesota who scoured the parish archives and provided us with TenBroeck’s photograph and obituary.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Confederate Connection


It seems that almost everything in the church here has a dedication on it. Some of these names we see every Sunday, like those on the stained-glass windows, and they should serve for us as reminders of the “great cloud of witnesses” that have gone before us at St. Paul’s. We will learn more about many of these people in the coming weeks.

In the 1970’s, the largest, and most mysterious, of these dedication plaques was removed as part of the church renovations. Many may remember the dark wainscoting that once lined the chancel around the altar as well as the large wooden plaques that ran the length of both walls and read “To the Glory of God and in Memory of William Parkinson McLure: Entered into Rest April, 1863.” The strange thing is, we have no record of a McLure family ever attending St. Paul’s. There were, however, many Parkinsons who did. These Parkinsons were the descendants of the first settlers of Monongahela City (once called Parkinson’s Ferry). Some searching revealed that a member of this family, Margaret Parkinson, married William McLure of Forward Township in 1833, and moved west to Missouri, eventually settling in St. Louis. Although northern by birth, Margaret McLure, like many of St. Paul’s original parishioners, was southern in sympathy during the years of the Civil War. She became noted in St. Louis, which found itself situated right on the border of the two conflicting halves of our country, for aiding the escape of Confederate prisoners and delivering messages across enemy lines. At one point she was arrested and spent time in a military prison. Eventually she was loaded on a boat and sent down the Mississippi River, having been banished to the Confederacy.

Now, Mrs. McLure had a son whom she named after her father, William Parkinson. He was born in Missouri, but eventually travelled even further west. He became one of the first postmasters of Denver, Colorado, despite being a rather rough character (he often engaged in duels and once barricaded himself in the post office to evade the police). When the war broke out, William Parkinson McLure, and some others tried to win the Territory of Colorado to the Confederate cause, but failing, travelled back east to join the fighting. McLure became a captain in the 1st Missouri Cavalry, a Confederate Regiment which saw most of its action making raids on pro-Union towns and military posts in Missouri. Early in the war he was captured and spent a year in the Delaware Island Prison in Ohio. He later rejoined his regiment only to be killed in battle in April, 1863. While records are unclear about the location of his death, his Division fought in only one battle that month, a small skirmish at the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (The account of the battle as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer is seen here.)

Captain McLure’s mother, Margaret, returned to St. Louis after the war and remained active in southern causes. She helped found the United Daughters of the Confederacy as well as the Missouri Home for Indigent Confederate Veterans. One of her favorite causes though was promoting the memory of her son. She financed the dedication of several things in his honor, one of which was likely the interior of the chancel of the new St. Paul’s Church being built back in her hometown, Monongahela City.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Birth of a Congregation


Political tensions ran high in across the United States in 1860. For some time the questions of slavery and states’ rights had divided the nation and the presidential election that year promised to bring both issues to a head. In May the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, a known opponent of slavery, as their candidate. By mid-summer southerners who felt threatened by Lincoln were already meeting in convention nominating their own candidates for president and whispering threats of secession if the election did not go their way.

Monongahela, although predominantly a pro-union and anti-slavery community, was not immune from the tension. The city’s industry and commerce had, by 1860, attracted immigrants from nearby Virginia (what is today West Virginia), many of whom had grown up in Protestant Episcopal Churches. No such church however existed in Monongahela at the time, so these southern transplants were obliged to worship with the Presbyterians.

At some point around 1860 an Anglican church school was started for children in the home of Mrs. Eliza J. Stuart which stood across the alley from where the church is today. The Rev. John Norman writes of Mrs. Stuart’s school “the good seed thus sown by this devoted disciple soon sprang into promise of better things; for a desire to know more about the Church, was thus awakened.” While the children began to show interest in the tradition and worship of the Anglican church, the parents soon found themselves increasingly uncomfortable in the Presbyterian church. The Rev. John Kerr, pastor of the Presbyterians at the time, was an unabashed union man and abolitionist, and was not afraid to make that known from the pulpit. In the words of Canon Davies, Rev. Kerr “allowed his Union allegiance to carry him beyond the bounds which the Episcopalians, many of them Southern by birth and sympathy, thought Christian. The Episcopalians decided that they must have their own church in the community.”

So the nearest Episcopal Church, Trinity- Washington, was contacted and it was arranged that the Rev. Dr. R. H. Lee would travel to Monongahela to conduct two services for the Feast of St. James. The services were both well attended by the citizens and clergy of Monongahela.

The Rev. Dr. Richard Henry Lee (seen here), who conducted the first services here on July 24th, and 25th, 1860 was born in Chantilly, Virginia on June 25, 1794. His grandfather was Richard Henry Lee, the member of the Second Continental Congress who, on June 7, 1776, first proposed that the colonies should be independent of Great Britain and later signed the Declaration of Independence.

Lee began his career as a lawyer in Virginia, but soon gave that up to pursue a life in academia. In 1833 he took the position of “Professor of Belles Lettres” at Washington College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Washington, Pennsylvania. For twenty years he was a beloved professor at the college and had a profound influence in the life of many students. During this time Lee was also instrumental in the organization of Trinity Church in Washington. Upon retiring in 1854, Dr. Lee became lay reader at Trinity Church (an elected position in those days) and was in October, 1858 ordained priest by the Rt. Rev. Samuel Bowman and made rector of Trinity Church a position which he continued in until his death on January 4, 1865.

It was said of the Rev. Dr. Lee: “He was a Christian without guile, broad and catholic in his views and feelings. His sermons were earnest and effective, and his style and diction were perfect pieces of art – such as would naturally flow from a mind thoroughly conversant with polite literature in all its branches.”

Only one other visit of Rev. Lee to the Anglicans in Monongahela is documented, for a service on December 18, 1861. For the first two years of the existence of this congregation only the school of Mrs. Stuart met with regularity. The Rev. Edwin M. van Deusen , of St. Peter’s – Pittsburgh, also conducted services here from time to time up until 1862, when the Monongahela City Episcopal Mission was organized and an official missionary assigned.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Monongahela City, 1860


What was Monongahela like when the first Anglican services were held here in 1860?

The city was founded as Parkinson's Ferry in 1769 and was originally situated primarily around the mouth of Pigeon Creek. By 1860, however, the town had been incorporated, changed its name to Monongahela City, and was spreading northward along the river.

A bustling river town, Monongahela City had a population of 999 according to the Census of 1860. At the time there were in town five dry goods stores, six grocery stores, two clothing stores, two shoe stores, two drug stores, two millinery shops and five or six other commercial establishments. There was a bank, Alexander & Co., and two newspapers. Industry in town included two paper mills, a planing mill, a boat building yard, a foundry, a flour mill and a coal car factory. The public school had six teachers and served three hundred fifty students.

When Anglicans first gathered here there were already five other Christian bodies worshiping in town. Two Presbyterian groups, along with the Methodist and African Methodist Episcopal churches were already well established. The Baptist Church first met in February of 1860. Four of those churches still exist.

In 1860, the shoe store pictured here, stood at about where St. Paul's church stands today.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Decline of Old West

In the early 19th century Christ Church – Brownsville rose to prominence in the area and Immanuel Church began to wane. In 1796 "Old West" was serving about 200 people. By 1820, though, the building was rarely being used. In 1825, when Bishop William White made his first and only visit to the Western half of the Diocese of Pennsylvania he consecrated Christ Church in Brownsville, but did not find it necessary to visit Old West at all.

For nearly forty years Immanuel Church struggled for existence. It was served occasionally by Rectors from Brownsville, but never had its own full-time clergy. In 1828 it did have its first Episcopal visitation by The Rt. Rev. Henry Onderdonk. In the 1830's Old West, now being called St. Peter's and sometimes St. Paul's, seems to have experienced moderate growth under the direction of the Rev. Lyman Freeman of Christ Church. Bishop Onderdonk visited several more times, and services were being held every two weeks. By 1839, however, Rev. Freeman was personally paying for the upkeep of the building and most of the communicants had fallen away.

In 1862 a permanent missionary, the Rev. William Pray TenBroeck, was assigned to serve in Monongahela and Old West was also placed under his charge. Rev. TenBroeck made an effort to hold services there but soon reported that attendance was so sparse that it did not warrant the travel from Monongahela. For the next ten years clergy from St. Paul's would periodically attempt to revive Old West with little success. By 1872 there were only two families worshiping there, the Wests (after whom the church was called “old West”) and the Crows. Members of both families became important leaders at St. Paul’s. The Rev. John Norman claims to have been preaching at Old West into the 1880's, but eventually whatever congregation was there was simply absorbed into St. Paul's Monongahela.

Some efforts were made to preserve the site in the early twentieth century, by Norman and others, but eventually the church building collapsed and the site fell into disrepair. In 1957 The Rev. Canon Joseph Wittkofski, rector of St. Mary's Charleroi, revived interest in Old West. Since then the site, including much of the original cemetery, an altar and outdoor worship space, a bell tower, and a period log structure, have been very nicely maintained by St. Mary's.

Old West sits just off of Route 481 near the village of Lover, about eight miles from Monongahela.




Click here for directions from St. Paul's to "Old West".


Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Circuit Rider and the Rebels

While mistakes by historians in the late nineteenth century, including our own Rev. John Norman, led to much confusion about the origin and significance of Old West Church, the true story of Immanuel Church is no less exciting.

Founded in 1789, Old West was the first Episcopal Church in Washington County and the first church founded by the new Protestant Episcopal Church in America west of the Allegheny Mountains. (All older churches had been originally part of the Church of England). The first priest to serve here was the Rev. Robert Ayres, who initially preached in the area as a Methodist Circuit Rider. On June 7, 1789 Ayers was ordained an Episcopal priest in Philadelphia by Bishop William White (his ordination certificate is seen here), and within the month was serving families in the Brownsville area.

With Ayres' help his small congregation, which initially met in various homes, purchased land from Edward West in 1794 and a church was constructed. In his journals Ayres refers to Old West as "Immanuel Church." The worshipers at Immanuel Church soon found themselves in the middle of a conflict with the new American government. The “Whiskey Rebellion” raged in the Monongahela Valley. Most people were in favor of the revolt as the government’s new Whiskey tax was a great burden to the local economy. While law and order disintegrated in the valley, the Rev. Ayres advocated loyalty to the national government. For several months Ayres was harassed by Whiskey Rebels. On one Sunday, as he was preaching at Old West, an armed mob stormed into the church and dragged the pastor out of the pulpit and into the adjacent field. Just as they were about to shoot Ayres they suddenly released him and he returned to the church and finished his sermon. Many attributed this strange change of heart to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Ayres served Old West off and on between 1789 and 1808, visiting on average about once a month in the early years. During this time the church flourished. In 1796 he reports at least thirty-four families associated with Immanuel Church, totaling about 200 persons, including several slaves.

Many of Ayres original journals and correspondence have been preserved and can by found in the library of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society at the Heinz History Center. They provide unique insight into frontier religious life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Our "Old West" Legacy

This year marks the 150th anniversary of our congregation here in Monongahela. To help us celebrate our legacy we will be learning more about the exciting history of God’s people at St. Paul’s. It is fitting that we began to mark the occasion as we celebrated the baptism of a new member of Christ’s family in our city. The baptismal font which we still use today has been used for most of the 1,527 baptisms which have been held at St. Paul’s since the first recorded one on July 10, 1867. However, the font itself is much older than our congregation and connects us to the first Anglican Christians to worship in Washington County.

Our baptismal font, once housed in a large wooden case, was painstakingly transported over the wild Allegheny Mountains and was used for many years at Immanuel Church, also called “Old West.” This church was founded in about 1789 at the halfway point between the only two towns in the valley at the time, Parkinson’s Ferry (Monongahela) and Brownsville. By 1860, when the first Episcopal service was held in Monongahela, “Old West” was a dwindling parish. In the 1870’s the congregations of St. Paul’s and Immanuel Church were combined into one parish. We will learn a little more about our mother church,“Old West.” It is a story which involves settlers, circuit riders, angry mobs and tar and feathers, and it is part of our story here at St. Paul’s.