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Pencil
Sketch of the
“Old Stone Church”
from the
1853 Box in the Cornerstone
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Shawnee Presbyterian Church in Shawnee-on-Delaware
traces its history back to 1750, when William Allen of Philadelphia conveyed five acres of land to
Nicholas Depui for a “Presbyterian Meeting House.” The meetinghouse was erected in 1753.
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Original
Sounding Board
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The “Old
Stone Church”
featured a high pulpit with a sounding board and window sills above the heads
of the seated congregation to thwart Native American attacks. Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran,
German Reformed and Baptist congregations worshipped here in past
generations.
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Cornerstone
Reopening
on
July 7, 2002
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The present brick structure was erected on the
original stone foundation in 1853. Ann
Depui Erb, great granddaughter of Nicholas Depui, laid the cornerstone. The names of the Building Committee and the
initials of the 1752 Committee can be seen on the church foundation on the
left.
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Shawnee
Churchyard
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Newton
Presbytery dedicated the church building in 1854. That year, the Reverend John Kirby Davis, a
graduate of Princeton Seminary, was called
as pastor. He served until 1868 and is
buried among Revolutionary War soldiers in the Shawnee Churchyard, the oldest in Monroe County.
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Remodeled
Church Sanctuary
in 1952
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The sanctuary was rededicated in 1952
after renovations returned the interior to a colonial appearance during the
bicentennial year. Features of
interest include the hand-hewn beams, the 1752 sounding board (visible about
the balcony) and the antique wrought iron candelabras. A drawing of the Old Stone
Church, a Civil War
period desk and an antique coat rack are in the narthex.
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Pastor
Karl R. Viernstein
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The Reverend Karl R. Viernstein is the
pastor of Shawnee
Presbyterian Church. Pastor Karl and
his wife, Dale, began their ministry on August 12, 2000.
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History
of
Shawnee
Presbyterian Church
by
Albert Hosbach
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The exact
date of the founding of the first church at Shawnee-on-Delaware is unknown but in 1741
Johan Casper Freyenmoet, a young man whose theological studies had been
carried on abroad was appointed the first regular pastor. Originally the
church was Dutch Reformed, and probably had been maintained as house of
worship, it was a crude log-framed affair and situated about two miles from
the present site. The worshippers were no doubt made up of white settlers and
Indians as the latter had been brought into the true faith by the
evangelizing efforts of such missionaries as David Brainerd.
Perhaps because
of the difficulty of obtaining qualified ministers of the Dutch Reformed
faith, the church at Shawnee
had become Presbyterian by 1752, when the stone edifice was built. The
initials of the men responsible for the building of the church, together with
the date, are still to be seen on the foundation of the present structure.
They are N.D.P. (Nicholas DePuy), S.D.P. (Samuel DePuy) and A.V.K. (Abraham
Van Kampen).
A pencil sketch
of the old stone church drawn in 1851 by M.R. DePuy, is still preserved and
hangs in the vestibule of the present church, perhaps the oldest relic, and
the most valuable is a sounding board which at one time hung above the
pulpit; today it rests among the rafters of the church and few people are
aware of its existence. Several years
ago Henry Ford wanted to buy the board from the church but the deal was never
consummated. Eventually, it may be
restored to its rightful position by some friend of the church; until then,
it remains in the dark confines of the attic, gathering the dust of time.
In the course of
a century the Old
Stone Church
became dilapidated and the members resolved to erect a new building. Its corner stone was laid August 11, 1853. The names of the men responsible for its
construction are also to be seen in the foundation: R.R. DePuy, J.D. LaBar, S. Dietrich, F. Bush
and A. Bush. Forty years later the church was enlarged by the addition of the
present vestibule and pulpit. The area
covered by the new pulpit extends over part of the old burial ground
belonging to the DePuy family: consequently their stones were embedded in the
rear foundation.
The burial
ground around the church is also very old. Some of the stones are almost undecipherable
but among the first interments was that of Samuel DePuy who died June 15,
1766, and is one of those buried beneath the present pulpit.
Contributed by
Albert Hosbach
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