REAT leaders of men, whatever their sphere of action, whether generals, philosophers, statesmen or divines, are interesting subjects for study. The faithful biographer, of whom Boswell is the best type, records the words and deeds which show the man as he was. The unbiased and truthful historian analyzes the character of the man, estimates the extent of his achievements, and shows why victory was chained to his car. Men often fail to appreciate the true worth and greatness of a contemporary. The best history is written when passion has subsided and prejudice has been allayed by the great healer, time. The most devoted follower of Jefferson will rise from the reading of Henry Cabot Lodge's monograph on Alexander Hamilton with profound admiration for the genius and ability of that great financier. In the same series of "American Statesmen" are lives of Madison, Gallatin and Clay, written long after the close of their careers, but with the same faithful historical analysis, which gives new and better ideas of their character and show in grander outline the impress of their genius on our free institutions.

      Another notable series, similar in character and style to that mentioned above, is that of the "American Religious Leaders," or, "Biographies of Men Who Have Influenced Religious Thought and Life in the United States." Some seven or eight volumes have been issued, but the series will never be complete unless it contain biographies of the two men who founded the greatest religious sect, which is a distinctively American product. Promulgated in Pennsylvania only four score years ago, the spread of the doctrines of Thomas and Alexander Campbell throughout the West and South, is one of the marvels in a nation whose history is a succession of wonderful events. It yet remains for some calm and impartial historian, who is bound by no narrow sectarian views, to study and analyze the character of these men, and truly set forth the inherent merit of their movement which commended it so strongly to the people and made it so successful.

      We road the most trifling incidents about prominent men with interest, and often with profit. Descriptions of their homes are written up and eagerly read. With this in mind, this article is prepared with the sole purpose of putting on record some facts concerning the home in this community of one of these religious leaders.

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

      Thomas Campbell was born in County Down, Ireland, on February 1, 1763. His family and that of the writer were on terms of intimate friendship, and were members of the same church, the Seceder. Dr. Richardson, in his interesting life of Alexander Campbell, tells how his friendship led the father to come to America, where some members of the Acheson family had made their home twenty years before. A great aunt of the writer was his companion on the voyage over, and upon their arrival in Philadelphia, May, 1807; he was the guest for some weeks of David Acheson, my grandfather, at that time a resident of the Quaker City. These facts are mentioned only to show the source of information for statements made herein, some of which have never heretofore been printed.

      Thomas Campbell came to Washington a few months after he landed in America, having been assigned to the Presbytery of Chartiers. Two years later his family arrived here, Alexander having finished his education before leaving Ireland. Dr. Richardson [1609] describes the journey of the family westward to their new home and tells how the father went up onto the mountain to meet them. He also speaks of their arrival in "Washington, where, in a field adjoining, a house had been provided, in which they were once more to find a resting place and to form an unbroken family circle."

First Home of Thomas Campbell in America.

This house is still standing, though the "field" is now covered with buildings and surrounded by the town on all sides. It was a small one-and-a-half story log house built on a sloping lot and had a basement kitchen. The rooms were small and the ceilings low. It was a cheap house even for that day, but was comfortable and clean, the Campbell family being its first occupants. The income of a minister in those days was very small, and Thomas Campbell having withdrawn from the Seceder Synod, and being without formal charge, was in very poor circumstances as regards this world's goods. But he had many warm and influential friends who sympathized with him in his trouble. Among these were Gen. Thomas Acheson, an old Irish neighbor, who agreed with him in his dissent from the strict Seceder doctrine. At that time the firm of Thomas and David Acheson carried on an extensive mercantile business, owning a half-dozen stores in the western country. One of these was at Washington, where Thomas Acheson lived, his brother David being the eastern purchasing agent for the firm with his residence in Philadelphia. When the Campbell family followed the father to America, these gentlemen undertook to provide a home for them. Two lots on the outskirts of Washington were purchased by article of agreement from Wm. Hoge, one of the proprietors of the town, and the house above described erected upon it. These lots were among the most undesirable in the plot, being sometimes described as "a hole in the ground." But Mr. Campbell was not proud, and his home was suited to his means. On August 25, 1810, Wm. Hoge, of Washington, and Isabella, his wife, executed a deed to Thomas Acheson, of the same place, and David Acheson, of Philadelphia, for these two lots. They are described as fronting one hundred and twenty feet on Belle Street (now Wheeling Street), and extending back along Second Street (now College), two hundred and forty feet to Strawberry Alley; "being part of same tract which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by patent, bearing date 24th day of March, 1788, granted to John and William Hoge, and now the sole property of William by virtue of a division made between him and John, 1st of October, 1792." They were subject to an annual ground-rent of two dollars, payable October 1st, of each year, and were conveyed to the parties named "as tenants in common, not as joint tenants." As the act destroying joint tenancy in Pennsylvania, except as to husband and wife, was not passed until 1812, it was necessary to specify that these parties held as tenants in common.

      In this house the Campbell family lived for about a year and a half when they removed to a small farm a few miles northwest of town. It was in this house that a reception was given to Alexander Campbell and his bride, the day after his first marriage on March 12, 1811.

      After the removal of Rev. Mr. Campbell, the house was rented from time to time to different tenants for twenty years. On September 1, 1813, Thomas Acheson, and Jane, his wife, conveyed his undivided moiety or one-half part to David Acheson for $600. At this time property was at war prices and Washington's prospects for becoming one of the largest towns west of the Alleghenies being considered very bright, real estate here was very high. Twenty years later when the commercial distress caused by President Jackson's assaults on the United States Bank, had brought ruin upon the Bank of Washington and strewed this community with financial wrecks, this same property sold for $250. It was deeded on February 21, 1833 by David Acheson, and Mary, his wife, to John H. Smith for the above mentioned sum.

      On December 9, 1834, Smith conveyed the property to Alfred B. Woods, a colored butcher, for $275. On April 1, 1840, Woods conveyed it to Joseph Smith, a shoemaker, for $400. Smith cut the property up into lots fronting on Second Street, and on March 31, 1854, sold the southern end on which the Campbell house stood, to Margaret Wright, for $650. The property is described in the deed as fronting eighty feet more or less on Second Street, and extending back one hundred and twenty feet. After Mrs. Wright removed to the house, she built an addition on the north side, and otherwise improved it, which has altered its appearance materially. The illustration shows it as it stands to-day. The property is in a good neighborhood, opposite the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, and would probably bring more than ten times the price Mrs. Wright paid for it.

First Meeting-house of the Disciples in America.

      A few months after Thomas Campbell removed from Washington the first church building erected by his religious followers was completed. It was located on the farm of Paul Dunkle, which is now the property of Thomas Miller in Hopewell Township, two miles southeast of West Middletown. It was built by John Boyd, and though small and cheap, the infant denomination was not able to pay for it. After waiting two years for his money, Mr. Boyd brought suit before Squire Uire against George Sharp, one of the deacons of the new church, and Thomas Sharp, who had made the contract for the [1610] work, for the balance due on it. On August 11, 1813, judgment was entered on the Squire's docket for $93.60, debt and interest to date. On May 9, 1814, the money was paid. The entries on the docket are as follows: "Debt and interest $93.60; Justice, 30 cents; Constable, 62 cents; interest for nine months, $4.21; receiving, 25; total, $98.98. Pd. plff. $97.81."

      This building was used for some years as a place of worship by the new sect. Thomas Campbell removed to Cambridge, Ohio, in 1813. After congregations were organized in other places, and the Brush Run Church was much depleted in membership by removals, it fell into disuse. About the year 1842, it was purchased by George McFadden, who moved it to West Middletown and used it as a blacksmith shop. When he was appointed Postmaster at that place in 1869, he opened the office in this building. The illustration, which is a good representation of the building as it stands to-day, shows the hole cut in the old church door for dropping letters in.

      The denomination which had its origin amid these humble surroundings is to-day one of the most prosperous and rapidly growing in the country. It is not the purpose of this article to follow the work of Thomas and Alexander Campbell or detail the steps by which their tenets were spread abroad and become the belief of 800,000 people. Nor is it necessary to speak of the noble traits of character which endeared these men to their followers. The elder was affectionally called "Father Campbell," and his amiable Christian character certainly entitled him to the love and admiration which were always his. A fine life-size portrait in oil, now in possession of a great-great granddaughter, Miss Martha Campbellina Pentecost, of West Middletown, shows a face which beams with goodness and Christian charity. His personal qualities must have resembled those of the Beloved Disciple, while his son, Alexander, possessed more of the aggressive, impulsive spirit of Peter.

      The people who four score years ago could not pay a paltry debt on their first church edifice, now contribute millions annually for the spread of the gospel; they are successfully engaged in mission work in China Japan, Scandanavia, Turkey, India and South America; they have thirty-six State Missionary Societies; they control five universities, nineteen colleges and five academies; they publish one quarterly, five semi-monthly, eight monthly, and nine weekly papers, and eleven Sunday-school papers; they have over 6,000 church organizations, 4,000 ministers, and 800,000 communicants. Truly the work of these two Irish preachers has borne wonderful fruit.

ERNEST F. ACHESON.      

[Christian Standard 33 (December 18, 1897): 1609-1611.]

      Ernest F. Acheson's "The First American Home of the Rev. Thomas Campbell" was first published in The Saturday Evening Suppertable at Washington, Pa., on April 18, 1891. It was reprinted in the Christian Standard, Vol. 33, No. 51, December 18, 1897. The electronic version of the essay has been produced from the reprinted essay.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the author's (or editor's) use of italics, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in the essay. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 1609:   "American Statesmen [ "American Statesmen"
 

      Thanks to R. Jeanne Cobb, Archivist and Coordinator of Special Collections, T. W. Phillips Memorial Library, for providing a typescript of the essay from The Saturday Evening Suppertable. Thanks to May Reed, Docent, Disciples of Christ Historical Society, for locating and providing a copy of the reprinted essay from the Christian Standard.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
724.694.8602
stefanik@westol.com

Created 11 April 1998.