Weekly Article

Facing religious discrimination and economic and political pressure in Ireland in the early 18th century, thousands of Ulster Scots saw a dismal future with little hope of providing a good life for their families. Their Presbyterian faith led them to believe that by working hard and following Christian practices, God would give them a good life. 

Across the Atlantic Ocean, William Penn had established a colony founded on the practices of religious toleration, participatory government, and “brotherly love.” Scots-Irish immigrants learned that Pennsylvania had opportunities and available land to free them from the financial, social, and political difficulties they faced in Scotland and Ireland. 

William Penn founded his colony on Quaker principles of non-violence and religious toleration and believed white Christians, indigenous Christians, and non-Christians could live peacefully together. 

In 1682 Penn purchased land from the Lenape tribe and hoped to sell it to settlers to pay off his debts. He also desired to foster trade with the Native Americans and establish a military defense for residents. In his book, Peaceable Kingdom Lost, historian Kevin Kenny noted that after the Great Agreement of 1701, Penn and the Conestogas promised to live together peacefully. The humane treatment of the indigenous people was an essential segment of Penn’s vision. 

Around 1700, the Ulster Scots began leaving Ireland for a new life in Pennsylvania. Arriving in Philadelphia and Delaware ports, it did not take long for them to feel unwelcome. The Quakers who ruled the new colony did not always follow Penn’s practice of absolute religious toleration. Numerous restrictions were placed on non-Quakers, limiting their full participation in the colony’s political, social, and economic life. 

Since most of these immigrants were tenant farmers, living in and around Philadelphia did not offer the opportunities they desired. At this time,  Pennsylvania’s frontier was 40-50 miles west of Philadelphia, including what later became Lancaster and Lebanon counties. 

Many Indian trails crisscrossed the rolling hills and forests. Such an Indian trail passed near the spring that ran behind Derry Church. The trail stretched from the Manada Gap to the headwaters of the Conewago Creek. These trails were rough and rocky. However, the determined Presbyterian, Mennonite, River Brethren, and Moravian immigrants made their way westward in increasing numbers. So many were coming, and their arrival seemed like a swarm of bees. 

While Penn insisted on legitimately purchasing Indian lands, these newcomers felt the land was theirs. “It was against the laws of God and nature that so much land should be idle, while so many Christians wanted it to labor on and to raise their bread,” wrote Israel Daniel Rapp, in his 1847 book, History and Topography of Northumberland, Huntington, Mifflin, Union, Columbia, Juniata, and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania. 

Settlers occupied the hills around the settlements in Pennsylvania. They marked their property by cutting their initials in trees on the boundary of what they considered theirs, then cut circles in the bark to kill the tree. They refused to pay the Native Americans for the land, believing that God owned it.

According to historian Luther Kelker, the settlers would build a church soon after clearing some land, building simple dwellings, and planting crops. The farmers often did not remove tree trunks and roots, and simply planted them with crops set out around them. They often planted various grains, beans, peas, and turnips.

The settlers kept goats, pigs, cattle, sheep, and a horse or two for plowing. As time passed, settlers often built grist mills and tanneries, with distilleries often added later. Colonial wives spun flax, milled the corn, worked in the fields, while bearing and raising large families of up to 10-15 children. 

Days were long and strenuous, but the men would gather at the tavern to  exchange stories and catch up on local and international news . Magisterial courts met there, and the taverns often served as polling places. 

While German farmers were frugal, well-organized, and interested in improving the land, the Scots-Irish settlers were not known for being good stewards of the land. They often farmed the soil while it was fertile and then moved westward when the soil stopped being productive. 

While working to create a good life on the frontier, immigrants saw the need to establish a church. In the early 1720s, at least three Presbyterian congregations began gathering for worship. For the Derry congregation, at first worship was held outside, by a spring. At times, worship services would be held in homes. 

As the Presbyterian congregations grew, these new worship communities requested formal recognition as a congregation from the Presbytery. After several years of meeting without the leadership of an ordained minister, members of Derry Church applied to Donegal Presbytery In 1729 to be recognized as an established church and to request that they be served by an ordained minister. In response, Donegal Presbytery directed Reverend James Anderson, then serving as Pastor to Donegal Springs Presbyterian Church, to attend to Derry Church every fifth Sunday. 

In 1732, when Derry called its first pastor, Reverend William Bertram, a small log building, the Session House, was erected. In 1734, a second structure was built to serve as a sanctuary. In 1769, a larger structure the “Old Derry” Meeting House was constructed. 

On the frontier, the church became an important social center. People traveled long distances to attend day-long worship services often held just once per month. Services began around 10 a.m. and included two sermons, hymns, and prayers. Between discourses, adults lingered in small groups discussing local happenings while children and youth enjoyed playing with each other. At noon, the entire congregation settled underneath the trees to enjoy picnics brought from home. 

Presbyterian ministers were hard to find on the frontier. The Presbyteries required ministers to have a classical education, including theology, Greek, and Latin before they could be considered for ordination. If the itinerant preachers did not have this background, the Presbyteries required them to return to Scotland to study at Edinburgh University. Once Princeton was established (1746), most ministers received their training there. 

Because of the shortage of qualified ministers, it was common for a clergyman to serve more than one church. Reverends James Anderson and William Bertram, Derry’s earliest ministers, both served several congregations, often visiting newly established congregations a few times a year, in addition to their more regular service to their called church. 

During these years, social, economic, and political challenges were plentiful. While most descendants of the Scots-Irish settlers moved on as the soil became less productive, they left an enduring heritage in this area. Building upon their religious and political views, they laid the foundation for our new nation and the challenges ahead.

For further reading:

Kelker, Luther Reilly. History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. United States: Lewis Publishing Company, 1907. 

Kenny, Kevin. Peaceable Kingdom Lost: The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 

Rapp, Israel Daniel. History and Topography of Northumberland, Huntington, Mifflin, Union, Columbia, Juniata, and Clinton Counties, PA. (1847)