Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-09-29

we'll he represented rs mendipg the old net
| Though lie net may be an old one, and oftel
bfoten, yet whe.r east at the Lords command
j IN simple ,.i:h, II VIII catch great multitude
CT fishes.
Fer nitrate ar Sc a!.er DIR. Armstrong con
ciuded, Il profouna ,i!"nce pervaded the Who'll,
congregation, when DR.. Preston arose aud an
nounced the 18th Psalm, End part, conuen
cling. 81 love thy Kingdom Lord,' which wal
sung with fervor and in resounding tones.
A Supplementary Address.
MAP OF THE PREsBYTERY-oLD DOCUMENTS
&c.
Major Jed HotchkIss, ofStaunton, was intro
duced by DR.. Preston. The speaker opened by
referring to the discourse of DR.. Armstrong
and his effort would be to weave few new
threads into the old net and to direct attention
to events of one hundred years ago. Wher
thinking sometime since of this occasion, hi
conc luded to make a map of the Presby terry
territory. as 1t was when 1t stretched from the
Valley to the Ohio river, and from Pennsyl
vania to New river and its present bounds
locating the churches as they are now in Lex
fngton Presbytery. He proposed to publish
the map which could be sold for the purpose O
aiding the unsupplied with ministers, ant
thus this Presbytery could keep the promises
made by our ancestors in occupying the coun
try.
The Presbyterians who settled In the Valley
were the descendants of Irish and Scotch fami
les. and. like their ancestors In the old coun
tries. their tastes and inclinations led them
into limestone regions in selecting homes ir
the new world. He traced the lines of Presby
terrain settlements Southwest, to Abb's Valley
route into North Carolina.
The first houses of worship were rude log
| structures but principally through the adj
vice of parson Craig, they resolved to build
of stone material their temples of devotion
| and thus they would also answer ss forts, pro
tecting against the incursons of Indians the
Kerr's Creek Massacre especially havins great.
ly discouraged the settlers in all this region
Coming to speak of Rev. John Brown, who
was the minister presiding at the org nizatior
| of the Presbytery, he stated that he from
Liberty Hall. Limerick county. Ireland He
was the first graduate of Princeton Seminary
| and his diploma is now in the collection o
| that institution, In connection with the his
| tory of this minister, Major Hotclkiss reat
many original documents, and among then
was the call. made by fifty one signers o
Timberridge church, asking for him theil
pastor. He read the roll of signers 10 the rail-
They were the ancestors of many who bear the
| same names in that community now. Iii,
reference to the churches of the triple forks o
the Shenandoah and James rivers-made by
the chief tributaries of those rivers-was gen
| in his discourse. Coming again to the history
of Mr.. Brown in his further sketching of the
| old churches of Rock bridge, he mentioned tina
| he married Margaret, the daughter of Johr
Preston, whose home was Greenfield" neal
| the location where now stands the village o
| Amsterdam in Botetourt county. After forty
years of continuous service. he removed t6
| Kentucky, and was the ancestor of many dis
| tinguished men in the history of the country
One of his descendants was appointed by Mr.
Jefferson Governor of the territory of Louis
| lana. having been a Commissioner in arrans.
| ing the purchase of it from France. Another
was the first Senator from the State OF Ken.
lucky, and a Minister at the Court Of st
James.
Among the old documents read by Major
Hotchkiss, was a communication from Mr.
Brown, written In 1857. discussing Presby.
| terrain faith and theology in connection with
| the fundamental principles Unpopular govern.
| ment. 1t would rank rs leading paper in
church pOlity, as well IS dissertation upon
the principles embodied in the Constitution
of the United States, which was adopted by the
States thirty-two years afterwards.
Much more could be said of the Majors adj
dress. which ,-because of the large space al.
| ready occupied by this report, though meagre
| for the quantity of material the occasion af
forded-must he cut off. with only expressing
| an idea of the tenor of his remarks when lie
came to SIP az of development and progress
now going on in and around Abb's Valley, and
in the bounds of the Presbytery in West Vir-
ginia. aSSociating these achievements in sci
ence and Industry with the active energies OF
| the church, which there finds large open fields
for its extension.