Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-28

familiar old house of worship will be gone.
The richest woman in your city-she that
used to be Mary Copley out here-is goin'
to build costly brick and stone one in its
place. . She was out here not long ago, and
they say she told them to make it worth
$4,000 and she would foot the whole bill
out of her purse. She's the widow of
William Thaw. Maybe you know where
she lives in Pittsburg?
But in entering the field Of clover to
which he had been directed, the stranger
emerged upon another farm, and there the
owner stood, well up the ravine hillside,
you're welcome to 60 through the field.
It's common for people going to church to
cross it. From Pittsburg, are you. We
had visitor from your city not long ago.
Mrs. Thaw."
And then he retold the gossip about q
new.church. "It's to be the handsomest
church in Armstrong county. outside Of
Kittanning," he continued. '"The day she
was here she went in and examined the
organ. Now, we folks call that the best
organ in Manor township, but she smiled
and said she guessed it could be kept for the
Sabbath school after she bought bran new
large one.
Worshipped There When a Girl.
"You see, this was the church Mrs. Thaw
attended when she was a girl, and her father
was one of its founders He was Josiah
Copley, literary man. Seems to me he
was one of the editors of a Pittsburg paper
once Mary Copley-that's Mrs. Thaw now
said the farmer, getting enthusiastic, "when
you leave the church, 60 along the road to
your right, and the first house you come to
is my home. My name is Samuel Logan
and my wife was Bailey. She was school
mate Of Mrs. Thaw, and she cantell you lots
of stories about her girlhood days. Call in,
and while you drink glass of buttermilk
she will talk to you"
The little frame church was found with
out much difficulty. 1t is on the main road
five miles from Kittanning, four from Ford
City and two miles from Rosston. An air
of neatness surrounds the sanctuary, and
a wel.kept graveyard breathes the very
mournfulness of Gray's Elegy. Thus Sc
open country, far from town and village,
the sanctity of the spot passes unchallenged.
Neat and clean as it is, the present church
is scarcely worth $500. Ground has already
been broken in front of the structure for
the new edifce. Mrs, Thaw authorized the
expenditure of not less than S15, 900 for the
building itself, and she reserves the right to
furnish the interior herself
Intended as a Memorial Building.
She intends the new church to be memo
rial to her parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Josiah
Copley. Rev. DR.. Sutherland, of Kittan-
ming, who breaches at both Manor and Kit
tanning Presbyterian churches, drew the
plans. The walls will be of pressed brick,
with handsome stone front, modelled after
Kittanning's $40, 900 church. The contract
for building the church has been given to
King q Keener, of Kittanning. It will be
completed by September.
This was not the only result of Mrs.
Thaw's visit into Armstrong county. The
good lady agrees to give as much toward
the erection of Presbyterian church in
Ford City as the members themselves give
This is the unique town owned by the Pitts
burg Plate Glass Company. In it there
have already been erected beautiful Meth
odist church and Catholic church, the
former having been built by Mrs Captain
j. B. Ford and her son Edward, and pre-
sented to the Methodists. Now, if the
Presbyterisns of Ford City will raise 5000
to build church, Mrs. Thaw will give
S., 600, or if they raise $40, 600 among them
selves she will donate an equal amount. 1t
is not likely, however, that the Ford City
church will cost more than SO, 600 all told.
Mrs Thaw also gives literally every year
or two to the Presbyterian Church In Kit
tanning.
Head and Shoulders Above Others
But there ere few country churches In J