History of the Churches of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association

by William Pankey

FREEPORT BAPTIST CHURCH, ORGANIZED 1830

The Freeport Baptist Church, in Armstrong County, was organized December 11, 1830, with thirty charter members. The first services were held in Painter's Hotel. Evangelistic meetings were conducted by Rev. William Shadrach and Rev. George I. Miles, resulting in the baptism of twenty-one persons. Nine members of the Forks of Yough church (Salem), including Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lowry and Samuel Logan, were chiefly instrumental in the organization of the church.

The first edifice was a modest wooden chapel, erected on Fourth Avenue in 1834. The present brick edifice was erected in 1847. It has a one-hundred foot spire. The Freeport church was affiliated with the Monongahela Baptist Association until 1842, at which time it became a member of the Pittsburgh Association. The present membership is forty-six. In 1875 the Freeport church assisted in organizing the Leechburg Baptist church, and in 1890 the Tarentum Baptist church. The Rev. Sidney V. Hollingworth, missionary in Burma, went out from the Freeport church.

The following ministers have served the church:

Rev. John Thomas (1832-1834), Rev. William Penny (1835-1836), Rev. Thomas R. Thomas (1836-1839), Rev. Jonas A. Davis (1839), Rev. Edward Miles (1839), Rev. William Shadrach, Rev. George I. Miles, Rev. Samuel Miles, Rev. W. Bingham, Rev. Thomas Williamson, Rev. J. R. Rockefellow, Rev. James Estep, Rev. A. W. Barns (1850), Rev. Peter Weddell (1851-1852), Rev. T. J. Penny (1852-1853), Rev. L. L. Still (1854-1855), Rev. D. W. C. Harvey (1856-1862), Rev. J. G. Penny (1862-1865), Rev. David Williams (1866-1868), Rev. J. E. Dean (1868-1875), Rev. J. P. Jones (1875-1876), Rev. T. H. Jones (1876-1877), Rev. J. W. Ewing (1877- 1878), Rev. S. Drummond (1881-1884), Rev. J. W. Neyman (1884-1885), Rev. W. B. Skinner (1886- 1889), Rev. John Owens (1889-1892), Rev. W. H. Collins (1893-1894, Rev. Lewis Llewellyn (1894- 1899), Rev. L. E. Miller (1899-1900), Rev. George E. Lee (1901-1902), Rev. W. G. Carl (1902-1903), Rev. W. S. Holland (1904-1905), Rev. J. Thomas Davis (1905-1907), Rev. Gilbert W. Schmit (1907- 1909, Rev. S. J. Cunnings (1909), Rev. W. A. Wissinger (1910-1913), Rev. A. J. Meek (1913-1916), Rev. W. K. Morgan (1916-1917), Rev. Wallace Mitchell (1917-1920), Rev. W. E. Robson (1921- 1922), Rev. S. J. Cunning (1922-1923), Rev. S. M. Smith (1924-1925), Rev. F. M. Quell (1926-1929), Rev. David Thomson (1930-1932), Rev. T. M. Denning (1933-1934), Rev. L. S. Hoyle (1934-1936), Rev. Kenneth C. Coggon (1937 ).

The following persons have been licensed to preach the gospel by the Freeport church : Frederick Weimman, A. W. Barns, Charles L. Reynolds, Johnathan Snively, John Rowley and David L. Llewellyn. 23

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