|
Pencil
Sketch of the
“Old Stone
Church” from the
1853 Box in the Cornerstone
|
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.
|
|
Original
Sounding Board
|
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.
|
|
Cornerstone
Reopening
on
July 7, 2002
|
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.
Back to top
|
|
Shawnee Churchyard
|
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.
|
|
Christian
Education Building
|
A church hall (parish house) was built
in 1891.
It was extensively remodeled in 1952,
the church’s bicentennial year and renamed the Christian
Education Building.
Back to top
|
|
Remodeled
Church Sanctuary, 1952
|
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.
|
|
Pastor
Karl R. Viernstein
|
The Reverend Karl R. Viernstein is the
pastor of Shawnee Presbyterian Church. Pastor Karl and his wife, Dale, began their
ministry at Shawnee Presbyterian Church on
August 12, 2000.
Back to top
|
|
History
of
Shawnee
Presbyterian Church
by
Albert Hosbach
|
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
Back to top
|
