Part 32

It is worthy of note that all this time he supported himself by business pursuits; realizing the responsibility of the growing work, he executed a power of attorney to his wife May 30th, 1704, reciting that he was about to depart for Europe, which he did, arriving in London that summer, he then appealed to the nonconformists ministers for men and funds to sustain them. The London ministers responded by agreeing to furnish support for two missionaries, for two years, and Makemie at once secured two young men, John Hampton, a fellow countryman, and George McNish, a Scotchman (?).

It was while he sojourned in London that he published his “Plain and Friendly Persuasive to the Inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland for promoting Towns and Cohabitations, by a well wisher to both Governments,” returning in 1705 with the foregoing young men. We find that there were five church edifices and as many organized Presbyterian congregations in Somerset County as a result of his previous labor.

In 1706 he had the new church building at Rehoboth erected on his own land. Indeed this was an eventful year for the Presbyterian Church, as on March 22d the first Classical Assembly organized under the name “Presbytery,” presumably in the building of the First Presbyterian Church erected 1705 at Market and Banks Streets, Philadelphia.

Makemie seems to have been elected the first Moderator, as his name is the first to appear on the oldest records extant. This body was composed of three pastors and four missionaries, and was a happy union of men from different parts of the British possessions—Makemie and Hampton from Ireland, McNish from Scotland (?), Andrews, Wilson, Taylor and Davis from New England. A marked absentee was Josias Makie, the Irish pastor at Elizabeth River.

It claimed no authority, but it was a broad, generous, tolerant spirit which effected this union, and it seems to have taken the Presbytery of Dublin as a model. The record of this first meeting is lost, but, according to Briggs, “American Presbyterianism,” after the adjournment of the Presbytery in October, Francis Makemie took John Hampton with him and set out on a journey to Boston, on arrival in New York he was invited by the Dutch minister, Rev. Gualtherus du Bois to preach in the Reformed Church, but Lord Cornbury forbade the service. The preacher, not insisting on the use of the church, held service and preached in the house of William Jackson “with open doors.”

[Illustration:

HONORABLE EDWARD E. McCALL.

Justice of the Supreme Court of New York.

A Life Member of the Society. ]

Hampton preaching also on the same Sunday, January 20th, 1707, at Newtown, L. I. So bold a defiance aroused the wrath of the Governor, who, on the 24th of the month issued a warrant for the arrest of both men, “who have taken upon them to preach in a private house without having obtained any license for so doing, as they have gone into Long Island with intent there to spread their pernicious doctrines and principles to the disturbance of the church by law, established and of the government of this province.” The warrant was executed and the culprits were brought for examination before the Governor when Makemie defended his liberty on the toleration act of England—this act Cornbury declared to be without any force in his government, and required the prisoners to give bonds for good behaviour and to promise not to preach in New York or New Jersey. Makemie was willing to give bonds, but refused the promise, and both men were put in jail, where they remained six weeks and four days, during the absence of Chief Justice Momperson. On the return of the Judge they were brought before him on a writ of “habeas corpus.” Hampton was discharged without trial as a “man of less interest,” while Makemie was liberated under bonds to appear for trial at the next session of the court, the Grand Jury having found a true bill against him, “that he did take upon himself to preach in a conventicle and meeting not permitted or allowed by law, under color or excuse of religion in other manner than according to our Liturgy and practice of the Church of England.”

On his release he immediately returned to Philadelphia with Hampton for the meeting of Presbytery March 22d, 1707. From thence he writes to Benjamin Colman of Boston: “Since our imprisonment we have commenced a correspondence with our Reverend Breth of the ministry at Boston, which we hope according to our intention has been communicated to you all, whose sympathizing concurrence I cannot doubt of, in an expensive struggle for asserting our liberty against the powerful invasion of Lord Cornbury, which is not yet over.

“I need not tell you of a picked jury and the penal laws are invading our American sanctuary without the least regard to the toleration, which should justly alarm us all.”

At the trial, in the following June, the prosecution relied on the royal instruction to Cornbury, rather than on the ministry act, as though conscious that said act, while establishing a church, yet inflicted no penalties for non-conformity.

Makemie defended himself, producing licenses from the Governors of Virginia and Maryland, contending that there was nothing in the English common or statute law to hold him, and nothing in the laws of New York against the liberty he had exercised.

As to the Governor’s ecclesiastical authority, he argued that it could not exist without the due promulgation of law.

The plea of Makemie was so forceful that a jury “Packed to convict” was won over to his cause and unanimously acquitted him. The court, however, would not release him until he had paid all the costs, which, together with his expenses, amounted to £83, as sufficiently heavy burden, for which he must yet have had great compensation in the consciousness that he had fought a great fight and won a great victory in the cause of human liberty. Never again did a New York Governor attempt to silence any orderly preaching of the Gospel.

To Cornbury the issue of the case brought a bitter mortification, and he seems to have been seriously alarmed for the consequence to himself from the reports of the trial made by Mr. Makemie and his friends in England and the Colonies.

Writing to the lords of trade in October, 1707, he denied that Makemie had applied to him for a license, and said: “I entreat your Lordship’s protection against that malicious man, who is well known in Virginia and Maryland to be a disturber of the peace and quiet of all places he comes into; he is a Doctor of Physic, a Merchant, and attorney or counsellor at law, and, which is worse of all, a disturber of governments.”

It does not appear that Makemie ever took any action against Cornbury, nor was it needed to the damage of his Lordship’s reputation, which his course had so deeply stained.

The trial being over, Makemie seems to have continued on his journey to New England, as he addressed a letter to Lord Cornbury from Boston in July, 1707, and, according to a bequest in his will made soon after, “Mr. Jedediah Andrews, Minister at Philadelphia, is given my new cane, bought and fixed in Boston.” This will was signed April 27th, 1708, in which he refers to his wife and two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne Makemie.

Some time between this and August 4th, when the will was ordered to be recorded, Makemie died, with a solemn declaration of attachment to his mother church and so ended the career, at the age of fifty, of one of the greatest men who ever came to our shores in the interest of the protestant religion and it is safe to say had he lived in the times of the Revolution, he would have been one of the many of his fellow countrymen who went forth to fight for the flag of this new nation and raised their voices in behalf of human liberty.

[Illustration:

JAMES L. O’NEILL, ESQ.,

Of Elizabeth, N. J.

Member of the Executive Council. ]

May 14th, 1908, a handsome monument was dedicated to his memory on the banks of Holden’s Creek, Accomac County, Virginia.

HOLLIDAYSBURG—THE HOLLIDAY FAMILY—DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HOLLIDAY AT THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE—MASSACRE OF A PORTION OF WILLIAM HOLLIDAY’S FAMILY—JOHN HOLLIDAY, AUGHWICK—GEORGE CROGAN.

BY JAMES L. O’NEILL, ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.

William and Adam Holliday, cousins, emigrated from the north of Ireland about 1750, and settled in the neighborhood of the Manor, in Lancaster County, Penn. The feuds which existed between the Irish and German emigrants, as well as the unceasing efforts of the proprietary agents to keep emigrants from settling upon their lands, induced the Hollidays to seek a location farther west. Conococheague suggested itself to them as a suitable place, because it was so far removed from Philadelphia that the proprietors could not well dispossess them; and, the line never having been established, it was altogether uncertain whether the settlement was in Pennsylvania or Maryland. Besides, it possessed the advantage of being tolerably well populated. Accordingly, they settled on the banks of the Conococheague and cleared land, which they purchased and paid for soon after the survey.

During both the French and Indian wars of 1755–56 and the war of 1762–63 the Hollidays were in active service. At the destruction of Kittaning, William Holliday was a lieutenant in Colonel Armstrong’s company, and fought with great bravery in that conflict with the savages. The Hollidays were emphatically frontiermen; and on the restoration of peace in 1768, probably under the impression that the Conococheague Valley was becoming too thickly populated, they disposed of their land, placed their families and effects upon pack-horses, and again turned their faces toward the west. They passed through Aughwick, but found no unappropriated lands there worthy of their attention. Thence they proceeded to the Standing Stone, but nothing offered there; nor even at Frankstown could they find any inducement to stop; so they concluded to cross the mountain by the Kittaning Path and settle on the Alleghany at or near Kittaning.

William knew the road, and had noticed fine lands in that direction. However, when they reached the place where Hollidaysburg now stands, and were just on the point of descending the hill toward the river, Adam halted, and declared his intention to pitch his tent and travel no farther. He argued with his cousin that the Indian titles west of the mountains were not extinguished; and if they bought from the Indians they would be forced, on the extinguishment of their titles, to purchase a second time, or lose their lands and live in constant dread of the savages. Although William had a covetous eye on the fine lands of the Alleghany, the wise counsel of Adam prevailed, and they dismounted and prepared to build a temporary shelter. When Adam drove the first stake into the ground he casually remarked to William, “Whoever is alive a hundred years after this will see a tolerable-sized town here, and this will be near about the middle of it.” This prediction had been verified to the letter long before the expiration of the allotted time.

In a day or two after a shelter had been erected for the families, William crossed the river to where Gaysport now stands, for the purpose of locating. The land, however, was too swampy, and he returned. Next day he crossed again, and found a ravine, south of where he had been prospecting, which appeared to possess the desired qualifications; and there he staked out a farm—the one now owned by Mr. J. R. Crawford. Through this farm the old Frankstown and Johnstown Road ran for many years—the third road constructed in Pennsylvania crossing the Alleghany Mountains.

These lands belonged to the new purchase, and were in the market at a very low price, in order to encourage settlers on the frontier. Accordingly, Adam Holliday took out a warrant for 1,000 acres, comprising all the land upon which Hollidaysburg now stands. (Hollidaysburg, named after Adam and William Hollidays, is now the county seat of Blair County.) The lower or southern part was too marshy to work; so Mr. Holliday erected his cabin near where the American House now stands, and made a clearing on the high ground stretching toward the east. In the meantime, William Holliday purchased of Mr. Peters 1,000 acres of land, which embraced the present Crawford and Jackson farms and a greater part of Gaysport. Some years after, finding that he had more land than he could conveniently cultivate, he disposed of nearly one half of his original purchase to his son-in-law, James Somerville. Adam Holliday, too, having a large lot of land, disposed of a portion of it to Lazarus Lowry. Thus matters progressed smoothly for a time, until, unfortunately, a Scotchman, named Henry Gordon, in search of lands, happened to see and admire his farm. Gordon was a keen, shrewd fellow, and, in overlooking the records of the land office, discovered a flaw or informality in Adam’s grant. He immediately took advantage of his discovery, and took out a patent for the land. Litigation followed as a matter of course. Gordon possessed considerable legal acumen, and had withal money and a determined spirit. The case was tried in the courts below and the courts above—decided sometimes in favor of one party and sometimes in favor of the other, but eventually resulted in Gordon wresting from Adam Holliday and Lazarus Lowry all their land. This unfortunate circumstance deeply affected Mr. Holliday, for he had been grossly wronged by the adroitness and cunning of Gordon; but relief came to him when he least expected it. When the war broke out, Gordon was among the very first to sail for Europe; and soon after the Council proclaimed him an attainted traitor, and his property was confiscated and brought under the hammer. The circumstances under which he had wrested the property from Holliday were known, so that no person would bid, which enabled him to regain his land at a mere nominal price. He then went on and improved, and built a house on the bank of the river, near where the bridge connects the boroughs of Hollidaysburg and Gaysport.

During the alarms and troubles which followed in the course of the war Adam Holliday took a conspicuous part in defending the frontier. He aided, first, in erecting Fetter’s Fort, and afterwards expended his means in turning Titus’s stable into a fort. This fort was located on a flat, nearly opposite the second lock below Hollidaysburg, and the two served as a place of refuge for all the settlers of what was then merely called the Upper End of Frankstown District. He, also, with his own money purchased provisions, and through his exertions arms and ammunition were brought from the eastern counties. His courage and energy inspired the settlers to make a stand at a time when they were on the very point of flying to Cumberland County. In December, 1777, Mr. Holliday visited Philadelphia for the purpose of securing a part of the funds appropriated to the defence of the frontier. The following letter to President Wharton was given to him by Colonel John Piper, of Bedford County:

“Bedford County, December 19, 1777.

“Sir: Permit me, sir, to recommend to you, for counsel and direction, the bearer, Mr. Holliday, an inhabitant of Frankstown, one of the frontier settlements of our county, who has, at his own risk, been extremely active in assembling the people of that settlement together and in purchasing provisions to serve the militia who came to their assistance. As there was no person appointed either to purchase provisions or to serve them out, necessity obliged the bearer, with the assistance of some neighbors, to purchase a considerable quantity of provisions for that purpose, by which the inhabitants have been enabled to make a stand. His request is that he may be supplied with cash not only to discharge the debts already contracted, but likewise to enable him to lay up a store for future demand. I beg leave, sir, to refer to the bearer for further information, in hopes you will provide for their further support. Their situation requires immediate assistance.

“I am, sir, with all due respect, your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant,

“JOHN PIPER.”

Mr. Holliday’s mission was successful; and he returned with means to recruit the fort with provisions and ammunition, and continued to be an

## active and energetic frontier-man during all the Indian troubles which

followed. Notwithstanding the distracted state of society during the Revolution, William Holliday devoted much time and attention to his farm. His family, consisting of his wife, his sons, John, William, Patrick, Adam, and his daughter Janet, were quartered at Holliday’s Fort; and it was only when absolute necessity demanded it that they ventured to the farm to attend to the crops, after the savage marauders so boldly entered the settlements.

James, who we believe was next to the eldest of William Holliday’s children, joined the Continental army soon after the war broke out. He is represented as having been a noble-looking fellow, filled with enthusiasm, who sought for, and obtained without much difficulty, a lieutenant’s commission. He was engaged in several battles, and conducted himself in such a manner as to merit the approbation of his senior officers; but he fell gloriously at Brandywine, while the battle was waging, pierced through the heart by a musket ball. He was shot by a Hessian, who was under cover, and who had, from the same place, already dispatched a number of persons. But this was his last shot, for a young Virginian, who stood by the side of Holliday when he fell, rushed upon the Hessian, braving all danger, and hewed him to pieces with his sword before any defence could be made. The death of young Holliday was deeply lamented by his companions-in-arms, for he was brave and generous, and had not a single enemy in the line. His friends, after the battle, buried him near the spot where he fell; and it is doubtful whether even now a hillock of greensward remains to his memory.

About the beginning of the year 1779, the Indians along the frontier, emboldened by numerous successful depredations, came into Bedford County—within the boundaries of which Holliday’s Fort then was—in such formidable bands that many of the inhabitants fled to the eastern counties. The Hollidays, however, and some few others, tarried, in the hope that the Executive Council would render them aid. The following petition, drawn up on the 29th of May, 1779, and signed by William Holliday and others, will give the reader some idea of the distress suffered by the pioneers:

“To the Honorable President and Council:

“The Indians being now in the county, the frontier inhabitants being generally fled, leaves the few that remains in such a distressed condition that pen can hardily describe, nor your honors can only have a faint idea of; nor can it be conceived properly by any such as are the subjects thereof; but while we suffer in the part of the county that is most frontier, the inhabitants of the interior part of this county live at ease and safety.

“And we humbly conceive that by some immediate instruction from Council, to call them that are less exposed to our relief, we shall be able, under God, to repulse our enemies, and put it in the power of the distressed inhabitants to reap the fruits of their industry. Therefore, we humbly pray you would grant us such relief in the premises as you in your wisdom see meet. And your petitioners shall pray, etc.

“N. B.—There is a quantity of lead at the mines (Sinking Valley) in this county Council may procure for the use of said county, which save carriage, and supply our wants with article, which we cannot exist without at this place; and our flints are altogether expended. Therefore, we beg Council would furnish us with those necessaries as they in their wisdom see cause.

“P. S.—Please to supply us with powder to answer lead.

(Signed) “WILLIAM HOLLIDAY, _P. M._ THOMAS COULTER, _Sheriff_. RICHARD J. DELAPT, _Captain_. SAM. DAVIDSON.”

The prayer of these petitioners was not speedily answered, and Holliday’s Fort was evacuated soon after. The Council undoubtedly did all in its power to give the frontiers support; but the tardy movements of the militia gave the savages confidence, and drove the few settlers that remained almost to despair. Eventually relief came, but not sufficient to prevent Indian depredations. At length, when these depredations and the delays of the Council in furnishing sufficient force to repel these savage invasions had brought matters to such a crisis that forbearance ceased to be a virtue, the people of the neighborhood moved their families to Fort Roberdeau, in Sinking Valley, and Fetter’s Fort, and formed themselves into scouting parties, and by these means protected the frontier and enabled the settlers to gather in their crops in 1780; still, notwithstanding their vigilance, small bands of scalp-hunters occasionally invaded the county, and, when no scalps were to be found, compromised by stealing horses, or by laying waste whatever fell in their way.

In 1781, when Continental money was so terribly depreciated that it took, in the language of one of the old settlers, “seventeen dollars of it to buy a quart of whiskey,” the government was in too straitened a condition to furnish this frontier guard with ammunition and provisions, so that the force was considerably reduced. Small scouting parties were still kept up, however, to watch the savages, who again made their appearance in the neighborhood in the summer, retarding the harvest operations. About the middle of July, the scouts reported everything quiet and no traces of Indians in the county. Accordingly, Mr. Holliday proceeded to his farm, and, with the aid of his sons, succeeded in getting off and housing his grain. Early in August, Mr. Holliday, accompanied by his sons Patrick and Adam and his daughter Janet, then about fourteen years of age, left Fort Roberdeau for the purpose of taking off a second crop of hay. On their arrival at the farm they went leisurely to work, and mowed the grass. The weather being extremely fine, in a few days they began to haul it in on a rudely constructed sled, for in those days few wagons were in use along the frontiers. They had taken in one load, returned, and filled the sled again, when an acquaintance named McDonald, a Scotchman, came along on horseback. He stopped, and they commenced a conversation on the war. William Holliday was seated upon one of the horses that were hitched to the sled, his two sons were on one side of him, and his daughter on the opposite side. All of the men, as was customary then, were armed with rifles.