Title: Dancing, is it a sin?
Description: Mr. Heber  Donaldson, a lawyer in Oil City, PA was suspended from the Presbyterian Church of Emlenton, PA in 1881 on charges that he had...danced on two occasions. He admitted during his trial before  the Clarion Presbytery that while at a private party he had "walked through a quadrille." The text is an eloquent defense of actions, though it did not sway a majority of the elders

Donaldson lost his appeal in Emlenton, and was prohibited from rejoining the church of which he had been a lifelong member.
Text includes minutes of the sessions of the Presbyterian Church in Emlenton and other related records.  He did later appeal to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois.  The General Assembly found him not guilty.
Subjects: Dance, Presbyterian Church, Religious aspects of Dance, Religious freedom--Controversies
Places: Emlonton, PA, Erie, Oil City, Springfield Illinois
People: Heber Donaldson
Time periods: 1881