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Subject: [PIATT] Donegal Presbytery records
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2003 02:27:55 +0000

Happy New Year to all. Let's hope that this will be the year we break through
on some of the difficult Piatt lines.

Last 26 July Linda Hansen posted to the list a mention of Jacob Piat in the
records of the Donegal Presbytery in 1736. She was gracious to do so as she is
not a Piatt and had come across the record in searching for her Carnahans. We
can be ever grateful to her as, to my knowledge, this record of Jacob had not
been found before. Her message was:

"1736 - Jacob Piat appeared before ye pby desiring admission to church
priviledges having been debarred heretofore on acct of the rumor of his
former wifes being still alive, or at lest not certainly dead, and also
because of his Clandestine marriage with his present wife. Ye pby upon
inquiry found that so far as we can discover his former wife was guilty
of wilful disertion and therefore yet he doth not appar to be guilty of
bigamy; ordered that upon his apparing in publick with his wife to
acknowledge their sin of Disobedience to hr parents they may be admitted
to priviledges."

I thought it might be helpful to find this record in the minutes of the Donegal
Presbytery to see what came before and after. Finally, on Monday 30 December
2002 I was able to read the minutes of the Donegal Presbytery at the
Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. Linda's transcription of the
record is correct. Additionally, I determined that the meeting of the
Presbytery at which Jacob Piat appeared was held on 2 September 1736 most
likely at Derry [meeting house] as the meeting of the Presbytery the day before
was held at Derry.

I skimmed the minutes closely, but did not read word for word, to 1740. The
only additonal mention of Jacob Piat which I caught was on 26 October 1736:

"No acct of Jacob Piat because of Mr Bertram's absence."

What an odd statement. And who was Bertram? Was Jacob Piat to give a report
which could only be given in the presence of Mr Bertram? Or was Piat off with
Bertram?

Mr Bertram was the minister of the Derry Congregation. The minutes, which
begin in 1732, tell that Mr Bertram was called to Derry and Paxton
Congregations that year, that he had been given title to an old Indian town
which they had purchased as part of his compensation, that by late summer 1736
the job was such that Mr Bertram petitioned to be relieved of one of the
congregations. Both Derry and Paxton made him an offer so the choice was his.
Bertram choose Derry and Paxton was declared vacant. However, Bertram was
directed to go to Paxton to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to
the congregation "in the fall." Is that why Bertram was absent on 26 October
and was Piat with him?

Besides failing to record the name of either of Jacob Piat's wives or the names
of the parents of the second wife, the minutes of the Donegal Presbytery are
meticulous in their neglect to record the given name of their minister for some
dozen years. A query to the archivist at PHS produced some biographical
information from the Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church, Alfred Nevin,
editor, 1884, p 70-71:

"Bertram, Rev William, on the presentation to the Synod, in 1732, of most ample
testimonials from the Presbytery of Bangor, in Ireland, was received by the
Presbytery of Donegal. At the same time he accepted an invitation to settle at
Paxton and Derry, and was installed, November 15th, 1732, at the meeting house
on Swatara. The congregations executed to him the right and title to the
Indian town they had purchased. On the settlement of Mr Bertram the
congregation on Swatara took the name of Derry, and the upper congregation, on
Fishing Creek, was styled Paxton. Desiring leave to confine himself to one
congregation, Derry engaged to pay him sixty pounds, in hemp, corn, linen yarn
and cloth, and he was released from the care of Paxton, September 13th 1736.
He died, May 3d, 1746, aged seventy-two, and 'his tomb may be seen by leaving
he main road, near Hummellstown, and traversing the cool, clear Spring Creek,
to Dixon's Ford, where stands the venerable Derry meeting house, on the banks
of the Swatara.' Mr Bertram's son was the Surveyor General of Pennsylvania."

With this information there was the potential to locate the place where Jacob
Piat appeared to request reinstatement in the Presbytery. A little online
research revealed a cemetery listing of a Rev William Bertram, d 2 May 1746,
aged 72 -- close enough -- at:

http://maley.net/dauphin/OnlineData/cemetery/DerryPresby.htm

The cemetery is at the Derry Presbyterian Church whose website at:

http://www.derrypres.org/

gives its location as 248 E Derry Road in Hershey PA (not Hummellstown).

http://www.derrypres.org/heritage.htm

gives some history of the church. In part:

*****
Derry Church Heritage
In the early 1700's great numbers of Scots-Irish people left their homes in
northern Ireland to emigrate to the American Colonies. They were a hardy,
persevering breed of people who brought their religious beliefs and love of
liberty with them. It was such a group of people who settled in the area around
our present church. Legend has it that they began worship as early as 1724.

Derry Church was founded officially in 1729. In 1732, the congregation called
its first pastor, the Rev. William Bertram. Bertram was born in Scotland and
educated at Edinburgh University. He is one of three former pastors buried in
our cemetery.

The little Session House, or Pastor's Study, was built in 1732. In 1810 the
structure was given a new roof of pine shingles and the log exterior was
covered with weatherboarding. The building was enclosed in glass for
preservation in 1929 by Mr. Milton S. Hershey. In 1741 the land upon which the
meeting house stood was deeded to the congregation by John, Thomas and William
Penn, sons of William Penn. In 1769, Old Derry Meeting House was built. This
was a large, barn-like structure which stood on the site of the present Chapel
for over one hundred years.

The congregation was at its peak in 1763. Then followed the years of the
Revolutionary War and migrations to more enticing frontiers. At least forty men
who fought in the Revolution are buried in the Derry Cemetery.

By the year 1883, Old Derry Church was in a dilapidated state and the
congregation had dwindled to a handful of people. The old church was torn down
and the official records were stored in the attic of the manse at Paxton
Presbyterian Church. A fire on August 24, 1894 partially destroyed the manse
and our records were burned.
*****

Any structure called the Derry Meeting House which stood in 1736 no longer
stands, but the Little Session House (The Pastor's Study) of 1732 has been
preserved inside a glass house as described above. If the Donegal Presbytery
met in the Pastor's Study it was a crowded meeting. Regardless, I feel we now
know the location where Jacob Piat made his petition for reinstatement.

The Derry Presbyterian Church is an active congregation with a beautiful stone
church to the east of the old graveyard where William Bertram and many other
pioneers are buried. If you go down the slope behind the church, hop over the
creek, and walk up the other slope you will be in the front yard of Milton
Hershey's mansion. I suppose I will be reading Hershey's biography next to see
if he was a member of the congregation. I certainly feel now an obligation to
support the folks around Derry and will do my best to do so by eating more
chocolate.

The records of the Donegal Presbytery mention surnames of Elder, Arbuckle,
Wilson, Carnahan, Buchanan all of which appear again the the Path Valley.
Also, geographic locations mentioned in the records include Brandywine,
Conodoguinet, Conestoga, Pequea, Octorara, Opequon (VA), Nottingham, Monada,
and Conococheague. On 31 Aug 1738 "Ordered that Mr Craven supply every third
Sabbath on the west side of Connegocheck [Conococheague] till our next." The
west branch of the Conococheague which flows south from the Path Valley to the
Potomac in Maryland has been called "Pyeatt's Creek."

Conclusions:
The Presbyterians wanted everyone to enjoy the benefits of services,
There was more travel around the area than I ever thought
The ministers travelled a lot.

Without checking sources I'd venture to say that this area was still Lancaster
Co PA in the 1730s and there may still be records to be found deep in the
Lancaster Co PA records.

--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH
lapiatt@.att.net

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