Slippery Rock Presbyterian Church
One Hundred Years on a Hilltop
There's a church in the woods on the hilltop where the old Pittsburgh and Ellwood-New Castle roads meet. Slippery Rock United Presbyterian Church has stood on that hill for 100 years. A peace treaty with the Indians in 1794, which was never violated, opened up this area for settlement by Scotch-Irish pioneers who came from Fayette County in 1796.
Some first members of the Slippery Rock congregation were: Jesse Bell, William Cairns and his wife Nancy, Joseph Hennon and Margaret, and John Newton.
The log building was not very large and was said to be built in one day. Logs, from the trees in the surrounding forests were felled and used for the building. The logs were sealed together with mud. There was no floor, no seats, no stove and very little light. A fireplace of sorts was built by placing two logs across the room at the eaves and upon this was built a chimney of clay, split sticks and straw, supposedly to draw the smoke upward from the fire on the dirt floor. Great care was taken of possessions so even the female members would often walk barefoot and pause before reaching the Church and put on their shoes.
Rather than standing for the lengthy services, some people made benches of split logs with sticks driven into them for legs. It is noted that the owners of these first seats were criticized for being “uppity”, but soon everyone had these crude seats. Although this first church building was very crude it involved much sacrifice to construct. Most families were very poor and worked long hours to even exist, so they had very little to give to their place of worship.
Joseph Hennon b 1761 m. Margaret Morrow
parents of
John M. Hennon b 1809 m. Sarah Ward
parents of
Elizabeth L. Hennon b 1835 m. Thomas R. Jones
mother of
Bessie Luella Jones b 1881 m. John P.
Latimer
parents of
Lyle Latimer b 1903
father of
William
Latimer
Slippery Rock Presbyterian Church is where several generations of Latimer, Hennon and Newton families attended church. Many are a buried in the nearby cemetery. A wonderful stop if you are in the area on vacation!
