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Sandy Run / Sandy Valley churches
What's on this page:
- Sandy Run Presbyterian Church
- Episcopal Church of Sandy Valley
- Other denominations
- Presbyterian Church of Freeland
- Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church
- Christian Holiness Church
- Upper Lehigh churches
The photo of the Sandy Run Presbyterian Church at top left came from John Zubach.
Sandy Run Presbyterian Church
I don’t have much about this
church at present other than mentions in
news articles about other churches, and Charlie Stumpf’s brief notes.
This clipping at left, though, gives us a brief overview of Sandy Run
in 1895, and mentions "one Presbyterian Church and a society of people
called the Christian Holiness Association." [Clipping from Ed Merrick.]From Charlie Stumpf's notes:
1918 - Upper Lehigh's Presbyterian church, org. 1868, becomes part of Freeland church
1942 - Sandy Run Presbyterian church (org. 1886) becomes part of Freeland Presbyterian church
Jan. 30, 1929 newspaper article about Upper Lehigh: Will Dispose of Church
"Mr. Orth, of Bethlehem, representative of the Lehigh Presbytery was here yesterday and went to Upper Lehigh with Charles H. Wolfe, one of the elders of the Freeland Presbyterian church to arrange for disposal of the Upper Lehigh church. The building in Upper Lehigh was donated to the Upper Lehigh church, but due to the fact that that congregation has disbanded, the edifice becomes the property of the Presbytery. The Presbytery has offered the Freeland church anything in the church that it desires and so chairs, etc. will be taken over and some of the other equipment sent to the Sandy Run church. The building at Upper Lehigh will then be offered for sale by the Presbytery."
From the Freeland Presbyterian Church's
50th anniversary booklet in 1944: Presbyterianism in Freeland
grew from the shifting of Presbyterian families from the nearby
vicinities of Eckley, Upper Lehigh and Sandy Run, all of which are
older communities than Freeland, and in which churches had earlier been
established. The Eckley Church was founded 1861, the Upper Lehigh
Church in 1868, and the Sandy Run Church in 1886. As Freeland grew
these outlying communities declined, and in turn, their Presbyterians
moved to Freeland. The first move was from Eckley and in 1894 the
Eckley Church building was moved to Freeland, and erected upon the
present site. Later in 1916, during the pastorate of Rev. Howard J.
Bell, the Church was remodeled and the manse was built. Then in 1918
the Upper Lehigh congregation agreed to become a part of the Union
Presbyterian Church of Freeland, though still holding services in the
Upper Lehigh Church. Later the Church building at Upper Lehigh was sold
and the membership of the Church transferred to Freeland. In like
manner the Sandy Run Church carried on in their building until it was
decided that they too would abandon the use of their Church as a
preaching place and they too came to Freeland. A Sunday School was continued in the Sandy Run Church and one preaching service per month until 1942, when it was decided to discontinue services in the Sandy Run Church. The Church building was in bad repair and it seemed best to sell the building. This was done last year. The furniture was brought to the Freeland Church, as weas the bell which has been hung in our belfry and is to be dedicated as part of this Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration. The bell had been presented to the Sandy Run Church by Mrs. Anna Kemmerer in 1884, thus had called folks to worship at Sandy Run for 50 years, and it is appropriate that it should be dedicated again to begin another half century of service for us as we begin our second fifty years in this Church. The old bell which was taken from the Church tower will be mounted and kept as a sacred memento in the Church.
Photo from John Zubach. It was also published in the Penny Saver 6(1), March 1968, p. 20 and in Bob Falatko’s History of Foster Township, p. 25.
Newspaper article October 4, 1944: Freeland Presbyterian Church 50 Years Old
The article from Ed Merrick recounts the origins of the Freeland church, and includes these mentions of Sandy Run:
In January, 1896, among those received [into the congregation] were the James W. Boyle family, from the Sandy Run Presbyterian Church. Mr. Boyle is a former Freeland contractor. …
… On September 6th, 1908, the congregations of Upper Lehigh, Freeland and Sandy Run met to form a union of the Presbyterian Churches in this section. The petition to Presbytery was granted and a union of the above groups was finally consummated.
Plain Speaker article September 20, 1957: Presbyterian Church To Dedicate Sanctuary
The article found by Ed Merrick recounts the history of the area Presbyterian churches’ founding and their eventual coming together to make the Freeland congregation. It includes this about the Sandy Run church:
“The Presbyterian Church of Sandy Run was organized by a commission of the Presbytery of Lehigh on Sunday Morning, March 21, 1886. On August 5, 1885 the chapel which had been donated to the congregation by Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Kemmerer was dedicated but the formal dedication was not until March 21, 1886 with a membership of 24.”
Episcopal Church of Sandy Valley
Freeland Tribune November 28, 1892:
“Rev. H. M. Jarvis, pastor of the Episcopal churches at White Haven and
Sandy Valley, has accepted a call from Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and will
leave for there in a few weeks.”
I know nothing about this church, but I have copies of the photo at
left from both John Zubach and Bob Zimmerman; this black and white copy
is from John Zubach (the original was a sepia photo), and it was also
published in the Penny Saver
6(1), March 1968, p. 22. The photo at right comes from Bob Zimmerman. In 2011 Bob Zimmerman wrote: Among the forgotten items I am finding … is something my Dad had written concerning the Episcopal Church in Sandy Valley. I believe the following is at least 25 years old and, thus, the people mentioned are no longer likely to be treading the soil of the Freeland area. He wrote: The church in the picture is called St. David's Episcopal Church of Sandy Valley. It was built in the late 1800s and was torn down in 1946. Church and cemetery were located at the cross-roads in Sandy Valley. Only two weddings were performed here; the second and last one was William Fogarty (948 Centre St.). The church was served by Rev. Gill and Rev. McKinley. The corner stone is owned by a McGregor living on old Sam Meneely's farm. The stone dates 1882 … The lady in black dress could be a Mrs. Hindson. …
Bob continued: My father died 23 years ago and since the handwriting is firm and legible and since his Parkinson's made his hands shake badly for at least the last five years of his life, I believe that he wrote this at least 30 years ago. I also believe that this Mr. Fogarty supplied the info to my dad and also may have had a model of the church. Unfortunately, I never met this man. If that model still exists somewhere I would love to see it. Enjoy!
Other denominations
I don’t have notes on all of the local churches that included Sandy Run and Sandy Valley residents in their early congregations, but I have to think it likely that many or all of them did. Mine workers who affiliated with Protestant churches sometimes had one or two choices near their homes (depending on where they lived), and there were more choices in Freeland. My aunt Aggie grew up in Sandy Run and her family belonged to Saints Peter and Paul Slovak Lutheran Church. In the earliest years of the Freeland area, mine workers in nearby communities who were Catholic belonged to the Catholic church in Eckley, later relocated to Woodside, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. Then the other Catholic churches began to be built in Freeland to serve various ethnic groups. Here are a few examples of Sandy Run people participating in services of other denominations from my files.
Holiness Christian Church: On June
13, 1895 Rev. H. P. Jones advertised in the Freeland Tribune that the
Sandy Valley Mission of the Holiness Christian Church would hold a
grove meeting below the Millhopper Packing House that would last for
2-3 weeks.Methodist Church: (From W. W. Munsell’s History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, Pa., …, 1880)
“The Heberton circuit of the Methodist Episcopal church was organized May 15th, 1875, and embraced the following appointments: Upper Lehigh, South Heberton, Highland and Jeddo borough in the township of Foster, and Latimer, Milnesville, Ebervale and Humbolt in the township of Hazle. Eckley was added, and Humbolt was dropped the same year. In 1876 Harleigh, in Hazle township, and Sandy Run, in Foster, were added to the circuit. All of the above were school-house appointments except South Heberton and Milnesville.”
St. Mary’s Greek Catholic Church: (from a commemorative booklet) “…In the early days of the parish community, transportation to St. Mary's was quite difficult. Most parishioners walked to church and many of them lived in the outlying communities of Jeddo, Eckley, Buck Mountain, Sandy Run and Upper Lehigh. For some, it was more than an hour's journey on foot. A typical family would divide the Sunday activities between them. The mother would accompany some of the children to early Mass, return home and spend the later morning hours preparing Sunday dinner. The father would take the rest of the family to a later Mass and return in time for dinner. …”
St. John’s Nepomucene Roman Catholic Church: Census of Slovak families and original Slovak population in Freeland taken to justify building a church at Ridge and Luzerne Streets. [This is in my early files and at present I don’t have a citation for the source of this information. I will add that when I find it again. – CT]
Number of Slovak families at the time of the founding of St. John's, 1889:
Sandy Run ------ 11 families ---- 14 single men
Highland --------- 7 ----------------- 6
Pond Creek ------ 4 ------------------
Upper Lehigh -– 10 --------------- 12
Drifton ------------ 9 ---------------- 10
Hazle Brook ----- 7 ----------------- 6
Jeddo -------------- 8 ---------------- 11
Freeland --------- 16 ---------------- 18
Thank you to Bob Zimmerman, Ed Merrick, Charlie Stumpf, John Zubach for contributions to this page.