The midland journal., 1914-11-20
Tooth ANNIVERSARY.
West Nottingham Presbyterian Church Ceebrates-Inter-
esting Historical Sketch BY the Pastor,
Rev. F. Harl Huffman

Octoraro creek. At each place there is
Presbyterian cemetery. and each is near
enough to the mouth of the Octoraro creek
to have been called in the days OF few
landmarks as ''the Church at the Mouth
of the Octoraro. 1.-The name by which Not
tingham was known to the Presbytery of
New Castle in I724. the date when the
extant record of West Nottingham begins.
In March of that year they ordered Mr..
Huston to supply the people at the mouth
OF the Octoraro. Its next mention is in
r726 when Presbytery licensed Hugh
Stevenson. He supplied the church for
two years and then came Alexander
Hutchinson, John Tennent and Rev. John
Wilson. Under the latter some difficulty
seems to have arisen and in June I72o
committee consisting of Mr.. Huston and
others was sent by the Presbytery to look
into matters and report. And as they
were ordered to go to the Old Meeting
l. AAoASS w OSiACtC huot VIC nave CvlQcQCG
Of an organization and church building
before 1874, for the building must not
have been off-recent date, else 1t would
not have been called the old meeting
house.
About this time the church was moved
to near the Rising Sun. and was most
probably in course of erection in 1870
when Mr.. Huston was ordered to preach
in the old church.
In 1880 the name Nottingham" first
appears on the records of 2resbytery. Up
to this time the church had never had a
settled pastor. In 1890 they called the
Rev. James Orr, who accepted and was
ordained and installed the next year. In.
1892 the Presbytery of Donegal was or
ganized and into that Presbytery Noting
ham was placed. and remained for many
years.
The Rev. Mr.. Orr had not been settled
at Nottingham long before trouble arose.
John Fitzpatrick. the "leading'' and ruling
'spirit' in the church. somewhat of a
theologian, land very Calvinistic In his
belief" and greatly dreaded by all the
young ministers. who were usually un-
lucky enough to be entertained in his
home. and subjected to Searching ex-
animation as to the soundness" of their
theology and faith, accused him. Mr.. Orr.
|of Arminianism. The result was long
battle carriedgbefore the Presbytery and
terminating in the dismissal of Orr from
both the church and the Presbytery.
Soon after he went to England, was or
dained to the Priesthood by the Bishop of
London, and became one of the Ecclesi-
|astical court which ''cited Whitfield in.s
1910 and condemned him for canonicals.
irregularities, and suspended and de-
nounced him." His successor was the
Rev. John Paul, native of Ireland. who
came to the church in 1896 and after Albrief
ministry of less than three years died at
the early age of SO years. At thar time
there was no Presbyterian church in Har-
ford county. and some of the young men
came over to Nottingham on Sundays.
Conduct. declares DR.. Samuel A. Cay
ley. "well worthy of immitation in these
times"
Then in I74o came the great White6eld
revival. in which he was aided by the
Tennents and others. And while Not
ting ham. like the rest of the churches in
America. was wonderfully blessed by the
power of the spirit that accompanied 1t, 1t
suffered also from divisions It wrought.
The difficulty arose not through White
field himself, but some of those accom-
pauying him, who during their visit to
Noting ham seem to have shown more
zeal than wisdom. carrying things to
very extravagunt extent and Disregard
ing all ecclesiastical order.''
White6eld accompanied by Tennent,
Craig aud others, came on May 8. I74o,
and tradition says that he preached under
the great oak west of the Rising Sun.
5000 people heard him.. and according to
his journal there was wonderful mani
festation of Gods spirit, the cries Of the
people for forgiveness almost drowning,
his voice. In November of the same wear
ne visited Nottingham again and preach
ed to great audience, upon which. he
declares. ''the blessings descended like
dew"
But powerful as had been the manifes-
tation of the spirit, the division that was
wrought was complete. A part of the
congregation separated themselves and
built church on the opposite side of the
road. The old church stood on lhe hill
just outside of the Rising Sun and on the
south side of the road leading past Ste
phen John Reynolds. The new. or the
second church as ii was known. was built
on the west side Of the little stream just
at the foot OF the hill. So close were fhev