church and a building was commenced at which he says he worked "with his own hands." The Episcopalians in Pittsburgh comprised only a small proportion of the population, but included some of the most prominent and influential citizens of the village. They were mainly emigrants from Virginia and Maryland, where the Episcopal, or Church of England as it was commonly called, had been the state church, being disestablished during the Revolution. The church as a whole had fallen into disrepute, notwithstanding the fact that more than two-thirds of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Episcopalians, the principal reason being that the majority of the clergy had remained Loyalists during the Revolution. But at this time the movement for the reorganization of the church on American lines was well under way. In September, 1785, a convention of delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina had been held in Philadelphia and the Protestant Episcopal Church as a national body organized, and a provisional constitution adopted. On September 14, 1786, the Rev. Dr. William White, the rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia, the friend of Washington, who had been chaplain of the Continental Congress, was elected Bishop of Pennsylvania, and on February 4th of the following year, he and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Provoost, Bishop-elect of New York, were consecrated in London by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of Both, Wells and Peterborough. And now the Episcopalians of Pittsburgh were looking forward to the formation of a church of their own, which, however, was not to be accomplished until many years afterward. All the Penns were devout Christians and John Penn, Jr., and John Penn, at this time the proprietarys of the manor and town of Pittsburgh, were not exceptions to their forebears. Regardless of how they were affected by the Revolution in which they were staunch Loyalists, they set aside land in Pittsburgh at the time their plan of the town was laid out, for all the religious denominations to which the residents of Pittsburgh belonged at least nominally, upon which to erect houses of worship. This land they donated to trustees for the use of the congregations which had either been formed or were in process of formation. The first deed given for such purpose was to the German congregation and was dated June 18, 1787. Two other donations were made, both deeds for the same being dated September 24, 1787, the one being to the Presbyterian congregation, whose building had already been erected on the ground so conveyed, and the other being for the use of the Episcopalians; but for almost forty years after this land was conveyed to the Episcopalians it remained bare of a church building, being used solely as a burying ground. And the German church and the Presbyterian church were the pioneers in the reawakening of the religious life of Pittsburgh. The crudeness of the frontier was wearing off and the people yearned for a broader life, one of their desires being for a newspaper of their own. This new condition coming to the ears of two adventurous young printers in Philadelphia, John Scull and Joseph Boyd, they determined to meet it and establish a newspaper. The two men removed to Pittsburgh, bringing a printing outfit with them, and the Pittsburgh Gazette was born on July 29, 1786, and was the first newspaper to be published in the entire Western country, and has had a continuous existence to this day. The community was no longer isolated from the rest of the world. The paper mirrored the happenings in the Eastern parts of the United States and in Europe; and the only regret of the modern readers of the files of this old newspaper is the fact that the publishers did not deem it necessary to give publicity to local events. The people of Pittsburgh were now on the highroad to culture. REFERENCES. 1. C. W. Butterfield. Washington-Irvine Correspondence, Madison, Wis., 1882, pp. 72-74. 2. 3. Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL. D. 4. Ibid, pp. 249-252, pp. 293-294. Revolution of the Upper Ohio, 255-256. Frontier Defense on the Upper 5. Louise Phelps Kellogg. Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio, 1778-1779, Madison, 1916, p. 54. 6. Ibid, p. 233. 7. Ibid, p. 238. 8. Ibid, p. 28. 9. Louise Phelps Kellogg. Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 12. Ibid, p. 190. 13. Louise Phelps Kellogg. Supra, pp. 31-32. 14. Ibid, p. 395. 15. Ibid, p. 73. 16. Ibid, pp. 73-74. 20. Ibid, p. 68. 21. Johann David Schoepf. Travels in the Confederation, (1783 1784), Philadelphia, 1911, Vol. I, pp. 241-290. 22. Henry A. Muhlenberg. The Life of Major General Peter Muhlenberg, Philadelphia, 1849, pp. 425-430. 23. Colonial Records, Vol. 14, p. 40. 24. Olden Time, Pittsburgh, 1848, Vol. II, p. 429. 25. Richard Henry Lee. Life of Arthur Lee, LL.D., Boston, 1829, Vol. II, p. 380. Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. 10, p. 391. 26. Richard Henry Lee, Supra. p. 385. 27. Carl August Voss. Gedenkschrift Zur Ein Hundert Fuenfundzwanzig-Jaehrigen Jubel Feier, 1907, p. 13. 28. Johann David Schoepf, Supra. p. 244. 29. Richard Henry Lee, Supra. p. 385. 30. Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, pp. 16-17. |