Following are two articles from the Gettysburg Times about the history of Conewago, primarily about the church. They are the 39th and 38th installments of a series, A Bit of History About Your Own Adams County, published in that reverse order on December 4, 1952 and December 27, 1952, respectively. These appear to be the only installments from the series that discuss the Conewago settlement or Low Dutch.

Gettysburg Times
December 4, 1952
Page 15

A Bit of History About
Your Own Adams County

This is the 39th in a series of
historical talks given over Ra-
dio Station WGET by Dr Rob-
ert Fortenbaugh, Adeline Sa-
ger professor of history at Get-
tysburg College, on some of the
outstanding events and inter-
esting episodes in the develop-
ment of Adams County.
           ------

  In the preceding article we dis-
cussed the beginning and develop-
ment of the Low Dutch Colony of
Conewago, as well as the history
of the church organization from
1769 to 1793. In the latter year the
second and last pastor of the
church, the Rev. George Brinker-
hoff, resigned and left the com-
munity.  In this article we shall
continue by telling of the migra-
tion of the settlers in the colony
to distant parts and the consequent
dissolution of the church.
Even before Mr. Brinkehoff
left the charge of the Conewago
congregation , it is likely that the
people had listened to the preach-
ing of the Rev. Andrew Gray.  In
In October, 1792, the General Synod
of the Reformed Dutch Church on
America sent a missionary to
"visit the congretation at Hanover
and other districts on the Susque-
hanna," at the urgent request of
the people in those regions, to or-
ganize churches and strengthen
weak ones.
  "Resuscitated Congregation"
  The Rev. Mr. Gray was the mis-
sionary. In October of the follow-
ing year, 1793, Mr. Gray reported
to the General Synod that he had
"resuscitated the congretation at
Hanover and organized a new con-
gregation on the Susquehanna, hav-
ing received forty-five members
and administered Holy baptism
and the Lord's Supper, and
frequently preached to said con-
gregation and in adjoining neighbor-
hoods."

 There can be no doubt that the
"Hanover" mentioned was the
Conewago Church. Gray appar-
[COl. 2]
ently never returned but the
church contonied to exist, al-
though it never thereafter had a
regular pastor of Dutch Reformed
connection.
  The church was then supplied
wth such ministers as were avail-
ablt in the neighborhood.  The
first of these was the Rev. John
Black, who had given up his of-
fice as minister of the Upper Marsh
Creek Presbyterian Church of
Conewago in 1794 untul 1801 when
he removed to Westmoreland
County, where he died the next
year. The second, and probably
the last regulat supply at the Con-
ewago Church was the Rev. Alex-
ander Dobbin who was the pas-
tor of the Rock Creek Associate
Reformed Church and who prob-
ably served until his readh in 1809.
       Joined Presbyterians
  It is not sgrange to find that the
Dutch Reformed congregation
welcomed Scotch Presbyterian
preachers, for their doctrines were
Calvinistic and their government
presbyterian, as were the Presby-
terian churches. And when their
own congregation was finally dis-
solved, the most of the Dutch
people went into the nearby Pres-
byterian churches, the majority of
these probably following Mr. Dob-
bin into his own communion.
  This ends the story of the Re-
formed Dutch Church of the Cone-
wago.  It remains only to learn
what becaome of their property.  On
February 10, 1817, an act was read
in the Senate of Pennsylvania
and finally approved on March
24, 1817, authorizing the trustees
of the Low Dutch congregation in
Adams County to sell and convey
a certain pieve of land, setting
forth "Whereas it is represented
to the Legislature that Cornelius
Cosine did by deed convey to
Francis Cossary, David Van Dine
and David Demaree, in trust for
the use of the Low Dutch Congre-
gation of Calvinists, a certain
[col. 3]
piece of land containing about one
acre; whereas the said trustees
are all dead and members of the
congregation have become at-
attached to other congregations,
the house and lands now lying
waste and the members have
prayed the Legislature to appoint
trustees to sell and convey the
same."
        Sale Is Authorized
  In view of these representaitons,
the LEgislature by enactment ap-
pointed Whilheminus Hooghtalin,
Jacob Cossart and Garret Brinc-
ckerhogg, or their survivors, trus-
tees and authorized them to "sell,
and convey a certain piece of land
in Straban Twp., Adams County,
containing about one acre," and
to apply the proceeds of such sale
towards erecting a permanent
stone wall around the burying
ground connected with the church,
and towards such religions pur-
puses as a majority of those who
were formerly members of the con-
gregation may recommend in writ-
ing.
  It appears that the proceeds of
the sale were #288.20, and that this
amount was expended in ac-
cordance with the provisions of the
act just cited  A paper, setting
forth this information, was audited
November 16, 1820.  This data may
be taken as the official end of the
Low Dutch Recormed congrega-
tion of the Conewago.  The only
tangible evidence still remaining
is the graveyard, still to be seen,
a short distance southeast of Hunt-
erstown, and surrounded by a stone
wall, unquestionably the one build
with the proceeds of the sale of
the land and inprovements.
      Emigrate From County
  Other influences from the colony
can still be traced in the survival
of family names and of persons
bearing those names.  Sometimes
the names have been corrupted
by the influence of other langu-
ages, in other cases thety remain
clearly to testify to their Low
Dutch origin.
  However, the greated number of
the people of the colony emi-
grated from Adams County, and
they went in two directions, west-
ward and northward.  The earliest
removals in a group went to Ken-
[column 4
tucky.  A Kentucky history says
"The first Durch emigration to
Kentucky, in a group or company,
was in 1781, to White Oak Spring
station, on the Kentucky River, one
mile above Boonesborough.
        Pioneers in West
  "Among the emigrants were
Henry Banta Sr., Henry Hanta Jr.,
Abraham and John Banta, Samuel,
Peter, Daniel, Henry and Albert
Duryee, Peter Cossart, Frederick
Ripperdam and John Fleury."
These names with the single excep-
tion of Ripperdam, will be recog-
nized as names of the Conewago
settlement and evidence from de-
scendants confirms the soundness of
the view that these were from
Adams County.  But not all who
went from Adams County went out
together.  Some must have gone as
late as 1790.
  These people wer real pioneers
in the far distant western country.
They must have had an arduous
journey of upwards of 500 miles.
Their first settlement was, as we
have seen, a mile or so from
Boonesborough, a little later it
was where Harrodsburg now
stands, but in the course of a few
years they established themselves
permanently in and about a village
called "Six Mile," later Pleasure-
ville, in Henry County. There
some of the purchased 1,200
acres of land in 1794 and called
it the "low Dutch Tract," divid-
ing it among themselves.  It does
not appear that they established
their ancestral church, but rather
became the pioneer Presbyterians
in that section.
          Pastor Resigns
  We have said that the emigration
of the Low Dutch from Adams
County proceeded in two direc-
tions, westward and northward.
The first to Kentucky was the
larger and more important, but the
second, to New York, northward
in 1793, had a more immediate ef-
fect on the relative few who re-
mained behind.  The migration to
the northward of even the smaller
group, when the colony had al-
ready suffered the earlier remove,
was a cause for discouragement
to those who did not leave.
  As we have noticed, their church
received a severe setback in 1793,
the last pastor resigning.  From
that time, the few DUtch families
still on the ground ceased to hold
on long to their separate church,
nor did they long keep themselves
separate in other respects, rather
through inter-marriage and from
other causes soon becoming ab-
sorbed in the general population.
  The Curcumstances under which
the journey to northern New York
in the area of the Finger Lakes,
was made, are worthy of notice.
A letter, written in 1883, will tell
the story.  "You ask for further
information in regard to the ten
families who left Gettysburg April
30, 1793. They reached this county
(Cayuga., N. Y., near Auburn) ten
years before I was born.  I have
no written record of their names,
but have often hear them men-
tioned. The male heads of the fam-
ilies were: my fater, Jacob
Brinckerhoff, his brother, Ralph
Brinckerhoff, Thomas Johnson,
Abraham Bodine, Charles Van
Tine, Luke Brinckerhoff, James
Dates, Isaac Parsell, Jacob Loy-
ster and Andrew Johnson.
          Erect Cabins
  "These ten families came in
company.  On reaching the south
end of our county they found some
cleared Indian fields.  Here they
concluded to stop and put up some
cabins for shelter.  Having sowed
some weed, they took time to ex-
plore the country and decide where
to make a permanent settlement.
After two years they purchased
lands near the foot of Owasco
Lake and got possession in the
spring of 1795. They organized a
religious society in the same year
in connection with the Reformed
Dutch Church, and met for wor-
ship in their log cabins.  But soon
new settlers came in rapidly, and
the summer of 1797 they built the
first real church edifice in the
county."
  Here again, on the frontier, these
hardy people made a new begin-
ning and to this settlement, as well
as to those in Kentucky, later
came many of their relatives from
the Low Dutch settlement of Cone-
wago.
  Thus passed out of existence a
distinctive racial group of which
the greater part were only so-
sojourners in Adams County.  The
much smaller number of those who
remained, together with their de-
scendants, made their contribu-
tion to the development of Adams
County, and cherish a heritage
and a tradition which has enriched
out county history.

The Gettysburg Times
Dec. 27, 1952
Page 6

A Bit of History About
Your Own Adams County

This is the 38th in a series of
historical talks given over Ra-
dio Station WGET by Dr Rob-
ert Fortenbaugh, Adeline Sa-
ger professor of history at Get-
tysburg College, on some of the
outstanding events and inter-
esting episodes in the develop-
ment of Adams County.
           ------


  The Low Dutch Colony of the
Conewago was the physical evi-
dence for a time in this area of
the existence of a Dutch Re-
formed Church which was active for
a fe wyears and then passed out
of existence, because the greater
number of its people migrated
from these parts. Some of the con-
gregation remained, but not in suf-
ficient numbers to maintain the
church, and these people in many
cases were united with churches which
were similar to their own.
  As part of the Calvinistic Ref-
ormation in the 16th century,
these arse in the Low Countries
a denomination of Christians of
the Reformed branch of Protestant-
ism known as the Dutch Reformed
Church.  When people of this faith
came to New Netherland in Amer-
ica it was natural that they brought
their church with them, and so
there was early established in the
area of the concentration, name-
ly in the colonies of New York
 and New Jersey, an America
branch of this church.  It remains
today as the Reformed Church in
America, and claims some 200,000
memmers. It should not be con-
fused with the Recormed Church
which has its roots in Germany
and which is widely distributed
in Pennsylvania today as the Evan-
gelical and Recormed Church.
       Wanted Dutch Colony
  Since the center of concentra-
tion of the Dutch Reformed people
was in New YOrk and New Jersey,
it is apparent that any concrega-
tion of that church set up in Penn-
sylvania, especially so far west as
the present Adams County in colo-
nial days, was the result of a
purposeful and organized effort at
migration and colonization.  This
seems to have been the intention
of those who came to this section.
  While there seems to have been
a purpose to establish a colony of
people of Dutch descent in this dis-
tant part, it does not appear that
all come out at the same time.
Some were here as early as 1765,
it is believed. Some, a large com-
pany very likely, came as late as
1771.
  What is called the "Low Dutch
Settlement" is described by the
Rev. Dr. J. K. Demarest, who
made a careful study of documents
relation to this whole matter as
extending to a point two miles east
of what is now Hunterstown, along
a road running in a southwesterly
direction to a point a mile or less
across what is not the Baltimore
Rd.  This road is still know as the
"Low Dutch Road."
     Letters Were Farmers
  The people who came wer farm-
ers. The therefore did not found a
town, and the densest parts of their
settlement were those nearest the
tow extremities.  These limits were
marked by cemeteries.  Ths site of
the church which they organized,
very probably in 1769, was south-
east of Hunterstown, and was near
the point where the "Low Dutch
Road" intersects the lresent Lin-
coln Highway East. The cemetery,
not far from Hunterstown, and so
not far from the site of the church,
approzmiately midway between
these two points may still be seen,
enclosed with a stone wall, and in
fair condition,  Many of the grave-
stones have been worn smooth and
their records are thus lost.
  Let us follow Dr. Demarest's
description of the beginning of
church which these people early
provided for their spiritual benefit.
"Owing to the extend of the coun-
try over which the Dutch were
scattered . . . the few ministers
available could hardly undertake,
except under special circum-
stances, local pastoral work.  The
German Reformed congregations
were more conveniently situated
and occasionally, where the
[column 2
preaching was in ENglish or
there was an ability to use
both the German and the Dutch
languages, a German minister
might of course serve a Dutch con-
gregation in addition to his own.
   Early Records Were Lost
  "This may have been the case
with the Rev. Charles LEwis
Boehme, and at the latter time
the Rec. John Christopher Go-
brecht, both Germans and pastors
successively of the Reformed
Church at McAllister's, as Han-
over was called until about the
beginning of this century. . . .
These men perhaps ministered to
the Dutch community, but the tra-
ditions concerning their work in
this connection I regard as uncer-
tain.
  "It may have been under the
preaching of one who was some
years earlier on the ground that
the Dutch Recormed Church of
Conewago received its organization.
As to the circumstances and ex-
act date of that event it is impos-
sible to speak with positiveness, as
unfortunately the records of the
Classis of New Brunswick, N. J.,
covering the period, as lost.  But
the baptismal record of the church
begins with entries of October 2,3
1769. Ther eis nothing so show or
even make it possible that the
church had an existence before
that date.
   "We may be sure that it was
some one sent by the Classis of
New Brunswick for the purpuse
that the congregation was called
together for the first time -- joyful
day it was -- and favored with a
sermon, after which its lay offices
were ordained in the presence of
the people. It the missionary was
the same one who administered
baptism on October 23, 1769, to 13
children, and again nearly three
years after on May 31, 1772, to 27
children, it was the Rev. John M.
Van Harlingen.  I suppose him to
have been a friend of the Mont-
forts and Cassatts, as his home
was near Millstone, SOmerset
County, New Jersey, the same
place from which they had come.
His visit may have been at their
instance. . . .
      Served By 2 Pastors
  "Between the two visits of DOm-
ini Van Harlingen the sacrament
of baptism was administered on
May 27, 1770, to 13 children and
of June 5 of the same year to two
children by the Rev. J. M. Har-
denbergh, then pastor of several
churches near New Brunswick.
Also on September 8, 1771, bap-
tism was administered to eight
children by the Rev. John Leydt,
pastor at that time of the church
in New Brunswick.
   "Fnally in the fall of 1772 the
Conewago congregation secured a
pastor of its own in the person of
the Rev. Cornelius Cosine. Dr. E.
T. Crowin, in his manual of the
Recormed Church in America, says
of him only that he was pastor
of the Conewago Church from 1784
to 1788.  But the baptismal record
shows that the sacrament ad ad-
ministered by him at stated times,
beginning OCtober 11, 1772, and
continuing until 1788.  The fact of
his death in that year or the next
I discovered from an examination
of some papers at York.
  "He was succeeded by the Rev.
George G. Brinkerhoff, who en-
tered upon his work in Novem-
ber, 1789. So it appears in the min-
utes of the General Synod 'The
Licentiate, Georgius Brinkerhoff
presented a call made upon him
by the congregation of Conewago,
and at the request of that congre-
gation and on account of the dis-
tance, the Reverend Body solemn-
ly ordained Mr. Brinkerhoff to his
office here in the Dutch Re-
formed Church."
  "That session of the General
Synod was held in New York in
October, 1789.  With this minute the
baptismal record agrees.  No child
was baptized from October, 1787, to
November, 1789, when we find the
first mention in the baptismal rec-
ord of the ministrations of the Rev.
George G. Brinkerhoff, 'Volent deo
Minister of Conewago.'
  "The Rev. Mr. Brinkerhoff was
[column 3
born in BErgen County, N. J., in
1751.  He must have been one of
the first admitted to the ministry
of the Recormed Dutch Church
without credentials from Europe. He
was prepared by pastors in New
Jersey for the work of the ministry.
Before coming to Conewago he was
what we shall now call a 'home
missionary,' having been sent by
the General Synod 'to the north'
to the early settlers in the north-
ern counties of New York State.
After his pastorate was concluded
at Conewqgo he returned to New
Jersey, where he had a pastorate,
from which he went to New YOrk
Statem where he died in active serv-
ice in 1813.
  "These two pastors, Cornelius
and George Brinkerhoff,
were all the Conewago Church
ever had. Mr. Brinkerhoff resigned
in November, 1793, on account og
the breaking up of the congrega-
tion. And so, soon do we approach
the end of the history of the
church and indeed of the colony
as a whole.  Hardly more than a
single generation intervened be-
tween their arrival at Conewago
and their leaving again for more
distant parts, or, as perhaps we
should say, the continuance of
their journey westward."
  This describes the beginning and
development of the Low Dutch
Colony of Conewago, and we have
given the outline of the history of
its church, 1769 to 1793. In a con-
tinuance of this subject, we shall
describe some of the features of
their life while at Conewago, and
particularly the breaking up of the
congretation, as a result of the
movement of the greater part of
the colony to distant parts.

I found the 37th installment - December 24, 1952, page 10 which deals with a different historical topic. I found 40th - Dec 18, 1952 which continues about Methodist Churches.