Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-02-01
HONORED THE LORD.
All of Our Presidents Were Faith
full Church. -Goers.
From wnshington Down TO McKin-
ley No Out-nnd-Out Atheist
Ever Occupied the Ex-
ecutive Mansion.
Especial Washington letter.

LlI AM 90 years old and have lived
in this city all of my life,"
says William Birth, one of our
most respected citizens.
81 can only hear from the world now
by means of this ear-trumpet, but /
can read without glasses, eat with my
natural teeth and walk several miles
a day without overtaxing myself.
81 have no genuine recollection
of the war of 1872 but my earliest rec
objections are the conversations j
heard about it. 1t has always been
very hard for me to tell the difference
between what saw and what heard.
While am sure that l was taken away
and did not see the burning of the
capitol, heard SO much talk about it,
and SO many descriptions of it, that
have picture of it in my mind, and all
of my mature life l have been inclined
TO believe that / really saw that great
historic vandalism.
~ never saw Washington, but l have
seen every other president of the re-
public. ! have known some of them
and have worshiped in the same church
with some of them. i presume that
Washington was our greatest Christian
president, and that jackson was far
thest from being an ideal worshiper.
Five of our presidents were church
officers, trustees or vestrymen, name
ly: Washington, John Quincy Adams.
Grant, Garfield and Harrison, the last
named being at present an elder of
Presbyterian church at Indianapolis.
In addition to the above, Madison, Mon
roe, Tyler and Fillmore were communi-
cants.
Everyone knows that Washington
was an Episcopalian, and nearly all Wis
itors to the capital make pilgrimage
to Christ church, Alexandria, where
the Father of His Country worshiped.
A less visited scene of his religious de-
votions is the church at Pohick. Va,
the site for which edifice Washington
located. As it was nearer Mount Yer
non than was Alexandria he attended
service there more frequently than he
did at the latter place, but ii is now
difficult of access and but little known
TO the general public. Washington's
church at Pohick was vandalized dur
ing, the civil war and finally used as a
stable for northern troops. 1t is now
restored, and a congregation weekly
assemblies for worship within its walls
John Adams came of old Puritan
stock of New England. He was reared
as an independent, or Congregational
ist, but finally became a Unitarian in
principles.
Jefferson was what might be called
a free thinker, land he imbibed, while
in France at the time of the revolution
good many of the ideas of what was
called French infidelity, although hs
always recognized the existence oi
God. He was denounced during his
campaign for the presidency as {
French infidel. OF slavery he said
When / think of human slavery in thi:
country and think that God is just
tremble for my country His two
daughters were educated in Catholi,
convent in France.
james Madison was an Episcopal
ian, although educated at Princeton
the great Presbyterian stronghold.
Monroe was also an Episcopalian.
John Quincy Adams was Unitari
an, although he attended the Secont