ARP 101 By Chaplain Bill Holiman I
n our survey of historic ARP Presbyteries, we started with the old Texas, Arkansas, and Kentucky Presbyteries. These presbyteries were founded by migrating ARPs. However, the story of the Ohio
Presbytery of the ARP Synod of the South is quite different. Lathan’s History of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South has this to say:
The Ohio Presbytery was organized at the house of Mr. Nathaniel
Taylor, In Belmont County, Ohio, on the 20th of February 1865. Its proper name was the First Associate Reformed Presbytery of Ohio. Those taking part in the organization were Revs. E. B. Calderhead and James Borrows, and ruling elders William Andrew and Joseph Mehol- lin. In 1867 it made an application to be received under the care of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. This request was granted, and it was ever after known as the Presbytery of Ohio. In 1879 the Presbytery of Ohio asked and obtained permission of Synod to coalesce with the United Presbyterian Church. This it did not, however, do until the 30th of May 1881.
So that tells a little, but that does not explain why this Presbytery was formed. One clue is found in the story of ARP ministers who attended Miami of Ohio and Allegheny Seminary, near Pittsburgh, PA. The Rev. John Wilson was born in 1805 in Chester Co., SC. He studied at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, receiving the A. B. and A. M. degrees, and then graduated from Allegheny Seminary in 1835. Licensed by the First ARP Presbytery of Ohio, (Synod of the West) he then proceeded to travel on horseback, with Thomas Turner, (more about him in a mo- ment), through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. His wife was from Ohio, and his daughter was married to W. S. Moffatt, who we will meet shortly. Rev. Wilson spent most of his career in Salem, TN, and Monticello, AR. Remember from our Kentucky history that the President of Miami was Rev. Robert Bishop, an ARP minister from the Presbytery of Kentucky. Reading the biography of the Rev. Ebenezer Brown Calderhead, one of the two ministers who founded this presbytery we learn that he was the son of Rev. Alexander Calderhead; born in Belmont Co., Ohio, 1810; 8
ordained by Second Ohio (of the Synod of the West), 1841. Serving as pastor in Ohio, he came through the First A. R. Presbytery of Ohio into the Southern Synod. The Ohio Presbytery was orga- nized in Rev. Calderhead’s home area, by people that he had pas- tored. In addition, our Rev. Cal- derhead’s father, Rev. Alexander Calderhead, had come from Scot- land to America in 1802, at the same time as Rev. Bishop. The Cal- derheads would have known Rev. Bishop. Another clue is found in Civil War records that show Rev. E. B. Calderhead had a son who died in Union service and another son who was discharged after be- ing severely wounded. He may have had distress at the war, as many people of his time did. The Centennial History of the
ARP Church tells more: Borrows, James. — Born in
Washington Co., PA, 1821…Af- ter serving as a pastor in Ohio and Pennsylvania, he came with the Presbytery of Ohio into the ARP Synod of the South, as pas- tor of Ebenezer, Crawford Co., PA. He was later also installed as pastor of Hartstown and Sugar Grove.
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
What do you want to know about the ARP denomination? Send ques- tions to
ARPeditor@arpsynod.org. Did you know there was an Ohio Presbytery? Rev. William Holiman shares what he has discovered.
The Ohio Presbytery of the ARP Synod of the South
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
