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Venango County Cemeteries

CONCORD PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY

This cemetery is located in Allegheny Township, Venango County, a few miles southeast of Pleasantville on Route 36. Originally the graveyard for a local Presbyterian Church, the cemetery was abandoned until the Waddell family of Pleasantville undertook the task of removing brush and years of growth to save this historic burial ground. Tombstones date from 1825 to 1917 and have been recorded and photographed for inclusion in a volume to be published by the Venango County Historical Society.


The pioneer families buried at Concord Cemetery have interesting stories .. here are just a few:


The oldest marker is that of David Copeland who was born October 11, 1760 and died December 8, 1825. He was the son of David and Elizabeth Clapp Copeland.
His epitaph reads:


    "Blessed are the dead
    That die in the Lord.
    Yea sayeth the spirit for
    They rest from their labours
    and their works do
    follow them"


stone-Hugh Morrison

Hugh F. Clifford, a resident of Canada, published his family history that includes many of the residents of the area where Venango, Warren and Forest Counties meet.


In his report is a story about Hugh Morrison who was born in Northern Ireland ca. 1760 and died in November 1839. He was a school master and married Isabell Wilson who belonged to an aristocratic family. He may have been hired as a tutor for the family and they met and fell in love.
It seems that her people were very indignant because she wanted to marry a poor school teacher. Aided by her sister, she escaped from her bedroom in her nightgown to come to America with the man she loved.
Isabell died in 1853, age about 83, in Canal Township at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Robert J. and Elizabeth Morrison Neill. Her place of burial is not documented but may be an unmarked grave at Concord.


A fence surrounds the five Lamb family tombstones. Nancy Sparks Lamb, born ca. 1865 and died February 3, 1853.
Her epitaph reads:


    "How blessed the Righteous, when she dies,
    When sinks a weary soul to rest,
    How mildly beams the closing eyes,
    How gently heaves the expiring breast."





John Lamb Family Plot





John Lamb, son of John and Nancy Sparks Lamb was born June 13, 1806 in Centre County, PA. He died November 18, 1863. John came to Allegheny Township with his family in 1829 where he cleared land and started a tannery which expanded into a mercantile and lumber business. In 1833 he married Mary Bailey Smith and had seven children.
Son William died as an infant in 1835 and is buried within the enclosure as is son Henry R., a well-known oil operator who died of a stroke in 1887.
John Lambs epitaph reads:

    "Death is the crown of Life.
    Were death denied, poor man would live in vain,
    Were death denied, to live would not be life."





Aspinwall and Priscilla Cornwall
Aspinwall Cornwell died Dec. 23, 1828 at age 75. He was baptized July 29, 1756 in St. George's Church, North Hempstead, L.I. New York. Aspinwall first married Jane Mitchell who died in 1793 and later married her sister, Priscilla, who was 27 years younger than Aspinwall and died at age 82 in 1862. Aspinwall and Priscilla are buried near the center of the burial ground.


From Ferrows "New York in the Revolution", Albany, 1887 and Histories of Queens County, we find that Cornwell was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, later promoted to 1st Lieutenant and is mentioned in papers of George Washington as a soldier from the Long Neck and Cow Neck area. This part of Long Island was sharply divided in the early days of the conflict with England. The Cornwells seemed to be solidly behind the new Freedom movement. They belonged to the local chapter of the Sons of Liberty and formed a Commission to defy the harassment from Loyalist neighbors and the ever-increasing problem of more and more British troops being stationed in their area. The Patriots of Cow Neck were among the first to declare their loyalty to the struggle for Independence and formed a local Militia. Cornwell names are on the list of those who elected to have Cow Neck break away from their Hempstead neighbors. They were in great danger and were under constant threat of punishment from the British in the area.


James Carson and Mariah Carson

The Carson brothers, Joseph, James, John and Daniel immigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland during the years 1831 - 1839. James and his wife, Mariah sailed from Belfast with captain James Gowden and arrived in the port at NY June 1, 1833. Traveling with them was their little two year old son, William John Carson.
The brothers James and John Carson established adjoining farms four miles east of Pleasantville and the area became known as Carsonville. The James Carson family is enumerated in the 1850 Census of Allegheny Township, Venango County. He and Mariah have 8 children listed as living with them, the youngest, Andrew Charles, being one year old. Their 9th child, Leland, was born in 1852. James died in January 1854 at age 55. His tombstone is inscribed Native of Ireland, Town of Sessions. The ships passenger list gives his home as the town of Dungannon. Mariah died in 1872 at age 61. Andrew Carson spent his entire life on the farm and was a well-known thresher in the area.


Pertaining to the Concord Church, the information below is from Sesquicentennial, Pleasantville, Venango County, Pennsylvania, 1821-1971. Helen Carson Waddell, chairperson.
The old Concord Church was organized in 1822. This was several years after early settlers built a log school house southeast of Pleasantville, which became the site of the old Concord Church. Mr. H. I. Huidekoper, an agent for the Holland Land Co. deeded two acres of land near the log school house to be used for church and burying ground purposes. The neighbors came together and built a church and for the next decade the church increased in numbers and soon was overflowing. People came from the neighboring areas of Tionesta, Tidioute and Rynd Farm. One Sunday, several years later, the four elders were asked to sign the Test Act, upholding the General Assembly [presumably Presbyterian?]. Two signed but two did not. The followers of those that signed, known as the Old School branch built a church in Neilltown that was called the Concord Church of Neilltown. The New School branch (those following the elders who could not be induced to sign the Test Act) continued to worship in the old Concord Church. In 1850, services of the New School began to be held at the Covenanter Church and eventually this branch became organized as the New School Presbyterian Church of Pleasantville. However before long some of the staunch supporters of the church died and the church itself soon died a natural death. The property was purchased by the United Presbyterian Church Society which was then organized in Pleasantville.


By 1876 the church which had been built years previously and in which 50 years of services were held, tumbled down and became prey to the oil men who used it for fuel or carried it off to build engine houses. The last use made of the building was to shelter a man who had smallpox. Today there is nothing left of this church property except the cemetery.

Contributor
Submitted by:Penny Minnick