Middle Spring Presbyterian Church

Plaque at Middle Spring Pennsylvania Presbyterian Church

The Middle Spring Presbyterian Church was first built in 1738 by some of the earliest Scotch Irish settlers in Pennsylvania, and is much discussed in the histories of early Pennsylvania in general and Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in particular.

Scotch-Irish Settlers

Middle Spring Presbyterian Church is located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in the small community of Middle Spring, Pennsylvania on present day Pennsylvania State Route 4001 (old Pennsylvania 696), two and six-tenths miles north of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. A group of Scotch Irish immigrants settled in this area in about 1730. The Scotch Irish were the earliest settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier of the early 18th century. As one author puts it:

Rebuilt Middle Spring Church

Middle Spring Church today

The Cumberland Valley was dotted with Scotch-Irish settlements throughout its entire area, a district which had become almost exclusively the possession of this racial group, with whom were mingled small numbers of English and German settlers constituting perhaps ten percent of the population. It was well adapted to farming, and the Scotch-Irish, in this early period, were mostly farmers, but later they developed a marked aptitude for trade and the professions. As pioneers, they were the advance guard blazing the trail through the wilderness far out on the frontier. They were the first line of defense against the savages, bearing the brunt of the Indian wars, and courageously enduring the hardships of pioneer life as the typical frontiersmen of provincial Pennsylvania. Step by step they had advanced along a perilous path, surmounting whatever difficulties arose, moving ever farther into the wilderness and reclaiming it to the new civilization.

Founding of the Church

Plaque to First Log Church

In those days, the Middle Spring area was very much a part of this rugged frontier, where Indian attacks were common. Many of these early settlers fell victim to these attacks. These immigrants brought their Scotch Presbyterian origins with them. Presbyterian preaching began on this site in the open air as early as 1736. These settlers erected a Presbyterian Church building at this Middle Spring site in 1738, close to the bank of the small Middle Spring creek that ran through the area. The pioneer Scotch-Irish settlers in the Cumberland Valley almost always built their churches near streams and springs to have available an abundant source of water. The first building was a log church, which became not only a house of worship but a gathering place for the early settlers in the area. There are two other springs in the area – Big Spring and Rocky Spring. They called the church site "Middle Spring", because it was located midway between the Big Spring and the Rocky Spring. The church was thirty-five feet square. It had slab benches, a dirt floor and was unheated. The pulpit was high and was set against the wall. The precentor's desk was positioned right below and in front of it.

Attending the Frontier Church

Lower Cemetery

Prolific local historian, Belle Swope writes the following about her family members, Robert Quigley and his wife, Mary Jacob Quigley, who were among the early members of the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church at a time when it still held services in the very wild frontier of backwoods Pennsylvania.

[Robert and Mary Quigley] were members and regular attendants of the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church, which his parents were instrumental in organizing. Many members who were compelled to ford the creek, were irregular in their attendance, the stream at times being impassable, but not having the inconvenience of crossing the creek, he and his family were rarely absent from worship. The first minister was Rev. Thomas Craighead (1737–39). [Robert and Mary Quigley] sat under the preaching of the Rev. John Blair (1741–56) who succeeded Rev. Thomas Craighead, Rev. Robert Cooper from 1765 to 1797, and Rev. John Moody D. D. who began his pastorate in 1803 and continued in charge of the congregation for nearly 52 years. Their neighbors and friends attended the same church, and the Sabbath was a day of pleasant reunion as well as a season of worship. In the early days of the settlement, a peaceful frame of mind was not enjoyed by the worshiper, for the fear of an Indian outbreak was the prevailing thought in each heart, but gradually their outrages subsided, and muskets were no longer stacked at the church door, nor did the anxious eyes of the family as they returned to the home scan the horizon for a flame or a curl of smoke, that might be the last of what was once their fireside, built by their hands.

Original Church Replaced

The parishioners replaced the first log church with another in the 1760s. In turn, they replaced this church with the "Old Stone Church" in 1781. However, it suffered from a "structural defect". So, the congregation had to tear it down and replace it in 1847. At that time, they moved the church from where the old cemetery is still located (about one-tenth mile to the northwest) to its present location. A Christian Education Building was added to the 1847 sanctuary in 1964. There are four cemeteries associated with Middle Spring Church: the Lower Cemetery, the Upper Cemetery, and the Modern Cemetery;Hannah's Cemetery is locateds outside of Newburg.

Famous Members

Gen. Hugh Brady

John Brady Monument, Muncy, Pa.

Many of the original settlers of Cumberland County are buried in the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church Cemeteries. Among those buried there are Hugh Brady and Hannah Brady, parents of Major John Brady (whose many exploits on the Pennsylvania frontier are commemorated in a monument in Muncy, Pennsylvania). They are also the grandparents of John's sons, Captain Samuel Brady, of Brady's Leap fame and of Samuel's brother, United States Army Major General Hugh Brady, both of whom attended this church. Their maternal grandparents James and Jeanette Quigley are buried there as well.{ A detailed modern history of Middle Spring Presbyterian Church is available in Paul E. Gill, Ye People of Hopewell: A 250th Anniversary History of the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church,(Shippensburg: 1988).}