The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-08-23
FRENCH CREEK
CHURCH OBSERVES
IT'S CENTENNIAL
PRESBYTERIAN Congregation
Organized By Pioneers
Has Notable History.

BUCKHANNoN, w. Va, Aug. 23.-
New England pioneers in the heart
OF West Virginia are today reaping
their centennial harvest in the his
toric settlement of French Creek, Up
shur county, West Virginia, where the
one hundredth anniversary of the ia
nous French Creek Presbyterian
church is now being celebrated.
The French Creek Centennial is one
of this years most notable events in
the historic annals of the United
States. 1t has brought together peo-
pie from many distant points of the
and adjacent counties are making it a
general holiday fete for their distin-
guished visitors.
The Centenary today is the occa-
sion of great Homecoming jubilee.
Three thousand or more people are
gathered In and around the old church
on the hill. Nearly all Of those as
sembling are related to one another.
Rev. Earl a. Brooks, d. d., pastor OF
the Presbyterian church at Everett,
Mass, tonight makes an address re-
viewing the New England ancestry of
the Yankee colony of French Creek ou:
OF which grew the strong Presbyterian
church of today.
Sunday morning the Centenary SER
mon will be delivered by Rev. S. Hall
Young, d. D., now of New York City,
pioneer Presbyterian missionary TO
Alaska, whose father, DR.. Loyal Young,
preached the semi centennial sermon
90 years ago.
Sunday afternoon Rev. Warren II.
Wilson, PHI. D., of the Presbyterian
Board of Home Missions, of New York
City, will make an address. Other min
listers, former pastors of French
Creek or those who have been inti-
mately associated with the church ana
community, will speak Sunday oven
ing.
DR.. Brooks research into the history
Of the church discloses unique and in
teresting records Early in the nine
teenth century certain tracts of land
in what is now the center of West Vir-
ginia were opened up for settlers on
favorable terms. These tracts had
been grants from kings of England in
ante-revolutionary times and often
overlapped one another.
The settlers, however, who came
from New England to this region did
not anticipate any trouble over the
land. Several severely cold New Eng =
land summers, and the exploiting oi
these Virginia lands by shrewd Yam
kee SPECTATORS, brought from West
ern Massachusetts, southern Vermont
and northern Connecticut, number OF
families of sturdy Puritan stock.
AS early as 1901 Zedekiah Morgan
came from Connecticut and settled on
the Buckhannon river. Ir 1903 Aaron
Gould came from Charlcnont, Mass.
settling with his family of eleven chill
dren on French Creek. In 1911 Robert
Young and Gilbert Gould with theii
families came from Massachusetts
These were followed by other families
in 1S14-15-16-the Phillips, Morgan
Gould, Alden and Brooks families
From these early settlers descended
nearly all the people now residing in
that part of Upshur county.
Soon other settlers from North Car
olina and eastern Virginia came into
the county and these intermarried with
the New England families. New Eng
land intelligence, enterprise and piety
predominated.
From the first these Puritan fami-
lies moved to establish schools and
churches. AS soon as they had COM
pleted the GOO miles of wilderness
from Massachusetts to the heart OF
West Virginia, journeying in oxcarts
and wagons drawn by horses, taking
from six to eight weeks, they began to
meet every Sabbath for religious wor-
ship from house to house, generally al
the largest house in the communit-
that of Aaron Gould. These Goulds
were the direct descendants of Zacch-
! eus Gould, who came to Plymouth in
the Mayflower.
Before they had any minister, a.
early as 1S11-12, they began the prac-
tice of reading sermons as a part oi
their religious exercises. This prac-
tice has continued to the present time
at French Creek whenever they were
without a preacher. The first reader
of sermons was Robert Young, father
of DR.. Loyal Young, long the pastor Of
the church at Butler, Pa, grandfather
Of Rev. S. Hall Young, D. D., of Alas
ka, and the great-grandfather of DR.
S. Edward Young, Of Brooklyn, N. Y.
The colony would have nothing tc
do with slavery and had schools fol
all children from the very first.
About 1916 DR.. Thomas Hunt, later
pastor of the Second Presbyterian
church of Pittsburgh, was the first
minister OF the Gospel to visit the coll
ony. Shortly after his visit came Rev
Moses Allen, son-in-law of DR.. Nc
MILAN, the noted patriarch bf west
ern Pennsylvania Each preached one
sermon in the house of Aaron Gould
The first minister to reside al
Continued on Page Four)