1809-1909 Centennial Souvenir

I I.I 111 • FIRST CHURCH gation had, and the first Reformed Presbyterian preaching in the totmty, and so far as I know, in the state. Not long afterwards, Rev. John Black, of Pittsburg, Pa., visited the little society, con– stituted the session, and received James Reid and his wife as the first accessions to the church. There were now nine or .ten adult members in th~ congregation. The next Sabbath, Rev. John Black preached in a hewed log barn on a farm near to Mr. Mitchell's, then: belonging to his son-in-law, Mr. David Laughead, and later to Mr. Samuel Dallas, afterwards a member of the -ses– sion for many .years. On that day the sacrament of baptism was .administered for the first time in the congregation; the subjects being Robert Reid's two youngest brothers, wrniam and Joseph, who had been born after their parents had left the Associate Re– formed church. In 1810, Gavin Johnson and Alexander Foster, with their families, settled in the congregation, and in the next few years, seven or eight other families were also added. All the preaching the congregation got, ( and in those clays it was very little indeed) had to be in the residences of the members, which were generally small log houses ; or in barns, which latter were, in the summer season much m.ore comfortable. In 1812 the congre– gation erected its first church edifice on Mr. Miller's farm, seven 12