Person:Andrew Galbraith (4)

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7139/d14.htm#P542

Andrew GALBRAITH was born about 1750 in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He died on 7 Mar 1806 in Pennsborough, Pennsylvania. Parents: James GALBRAITH Jr. and Elizabeth BERTRAM. He was married to Barbara in 1780. Children were: Jean GALBRAITH, James GALBRAITH, Elizabeth GALBRAITH, Julianna GALBRAITH, Mary (Molly) GALBRAITH, Sarah W. (Sally) GALBRAITH , Barbara GALBRAITH, Andrew GALBRAITH Jr., Dorcas GALBRAITH, Ann GALBRAITH.

From "Early American Presbyterians" (http://sdsspc1.physics.lsa.umich.edu/amckay/prescong.htm#Derry)

Donegal Church, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania -- Est. 1719 Donegal Church was organized in 1719, or very early in 1720. Andrew Galbraith, Esq., son of James Galbraith, who came to America with William Penn, from Queenstown, upon his second visit, and whose remains are buried at Derry Graveyard, settled upon the land adjoining Donegal Church on the south, in 1718, for which he received a patent from the Penns in 1736, for two hundred and twelve acres. He was the first ruling elder of this church, and to him belongs the credit of organizing the congregation, and the selection of one of the most admirable and attractive sites for a church edifice within the broad limits of the state. The first meeting house was erected with logs, and stood a few yards south of the present structure (1884). After it had been used for a dozen years, the present edifice was erected. Loose stones were collected from the surface of the ground in the surrounding woods, with which the walls were built. There was no effort made by the masons to dress the stone; they were simply laid in mortar, to a line. The edges were craggy and rough. And there were no stone in the building that one man could not conveniently handle. The walls were plastered on the inside, but the outside was left in its rough state until the remodeling of the house in 1850.

The front of the building was the south side, facing the graveyard, with a double doorway, the only entrance into the house. The door frame and windows had a circular head. The pulpit stood against the northern side and immediately opposite the doorway. A broad aisle led from the door to another one running lengthwise of the building in front of the pulpit. Upon each side of the pulpit and facing it, were nine pews. Upon each side of the aisle running from the entrance door were seven pews.

There was also a small aisle near each end of the room, which ran at right angles to the main aisle, from which entrance was had to corresponding seven pews already mentioned. These pews faced the pulpit. Thre were four pews facing this small aisle, and between it and the end walls. For some years after the church was built, the floors of the aisles were composed of earth; no stoves were admitted; an innovation of that kind was considered incompatible with the worship of a true Christian; gradually, however, two large stoves, cast at Cornwall, were introduced, and the aisle paved with brick. The seats and backs of the pews were made of yellow pine and oak. The backs came to the neck of an ordinary person, and were perpendicular. At the corners of the pews were corner boards rounded out to fit the backs, an d which really made it more uncomfortable to sit.

Two or three rows of pews in front of the pulpit had inclined shelves, upon which the hymn-books were placed. Of course, there was no paint upon any of the wood-work. Thus the building stood when it was remodeled.

The Rev. David Evans supplied the Donegal Church in 1720, and the Rev. George Gillespie and the Rev. Robert Cross were among the supplies in 1721 and probably for the year 1722 also. In the Fall of 1723 the Rev. Messrs. Alexander, Hutcheson, and Daniel McGill were sent by New Castle Presbytery. In 1725 the Rev. Adam Boyd of Octorara gave Donegal the one-sixth of his time. On the 24th day of September, 1726, the Rev. James Anderson was called to the pastorate of the church, and on the last Wednesday in August, 1727, he was installed. He died July 16th, 1740. Rev. Hamilton Bell had charge of the church from 1742 until the fall of 1743. The pulpit was supplied by Presbytery until November 23d, 1748, when the Rev. Joseph Tate was installed as pastor, in which relation he continued until his death, October 11th, 1774, a period of twenty-six years.

The history of the church during the colonial period was an eventful one, and particularly during the French and Indian War of 1755-8, and the subsequent Indian wars. Many members of the congregation were driven from their homes on the Conoy and Conawago creeks, by the Indians. But there were also many members who shouldered their guns and marched to the frontier settlements to aid in terminating the Indian incursions, depredations and massacres.

Early in the Spring of 1776 the Rev. Collin McFarquahr took charge of the church at Donegal. He came to this country from Scotland, to seek a home and settlement, and left his family behind him, expecting to send for them as soon as he was settled, but on account of the interruption of travel occasioned by the prevailing war, he did not see them for ten years thereafter. Mr. McFarquahr continued to be the diligent and faithful pastor of Donegal until 1805, when his wife having died, he was bowed down with sorrow, and concluded to resign the charge and live with his daughters, Mrs. Wilson, in Lancaster, and Mrs. Cook, in Hagerstown, where he died, August 27th, 1822, aged ninety-three years.

After the resignation of Mr. McFarquahr, Donegal Church was supplied occasionally, in 1806, by the Rev. Nathanael R. Snowden, then settled in Lancaster, and served by Rev. Robert Cathcart, of York, as a stated supply. The Rev. William Kerr succeeded Mr. McFarquahr as pastor. Mr. K. also preached in Marietta, where he died in 1821. He was succeeded in the pastorate of Donegal by the Rev. Orson Douglass, the Rev. Thomas Marshall Boggs, the Rev. James L. Rodgers, the Rev. John J. Lane, the Rev. John Edgar, and the Rev. William Blays Brown, who took charge of the church in 1871.