(Continued from Thursday.)
Rev. Martin Kreider, we have seen, was born Feb. 14, 1740; and died Nov. 14, 1826. He married Anna Catharine Schmutz, born near the Hebron Moravian church, June 22, 1746; and died Jan. 22, 1821. They are said to be buried in the private cemetery on their farm, doubtless laid out by themselves. If we mistake not we were told that it used to be in an orchard, but it is now out in the open field. They had a large family of children as follows:
It would be going beyond the limits of our subject-The Plain People of Lebanon County-to trace out the descendants of Rev. Martin Kreider. He bought considerable land in Franklin county, which he sold to more than one of his children, the older members of his family moved thither. Rev. Martin's oldest son, Rev. John, was one of the first members of the United Brethren in Franklin county, and doubtless Rev. Martin went out there frequently to preach, likely thus became acquainted and was thus led to buy land. The migration from Lancaster and Lebanon counties to Franklin in the latter part of the 18th century was very considerable, as a few decades later there was a very considerable migration to Center county. There are close ties between Lebanon and Franklin counties. We shall say a little about Rev. Martin's children who went to Franklin county. Rev. John, Son of Rev. Martin
Rev. John Kreider m. about 1787 raised a Mennonite, but early became a member of the United Brethren. He moved to Franklin county about 1796, and there bought a farm from his father in Hamilton township, now St. Thomas township, his father having bought it of one John Meyer in 1787, some thirty years ago the property of Rev. John's grandson, Joseph. Rev. John was a United Brethren pioneer in Franklin county and with the Huber's effected the first United Brethren organization there, from which they are said to be grown to the leading denomination of the county. He was a very pious man and earnest in his labors for God.
Rev. John Kreider m. about 1787 to Barbara daughter of Christian Smith and Mary Landis, who resided near the Cornwall Hills. She was born June 13, 1772; and died Feb. 27, 1861. The "Religious Telescope" of July 6, 1842, contains the following:
"It becomes my duty to announce the death of Rev. John Crider. . . . Father Crider embraced religion about 40 years ago. He preached the Gospel as near as can be ascertained about 30 or 33 years. . . . . It is worthy of remark as showing the zeal of Father Crider in the cause of God that he never left the place where he preached without holding a meeting of social prayer. . . . His remains were interred in the Crider graveyard on his farm by a large concourse of friends and neighbors who assembled to pay the last tribute of respect to one by whom it was richly merited."
His remains were later removed by his son Joseph to the United Brethren cemetery near by. He had children:
Joseph Smith.
obtained through Hon. A. S. Kreider[:]
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Members of York First Church, United Brethren in Christ:-I am glad to be greeted by you tonight under the circumstances for which you have invited me-the Fifteenth Anniversary of the organization of this church, and to speak to you of Christian Smith Kreider, the first pastor and organizer of the church.
Had the forefathers of the Church been as careful of the history and the work of the Church as you are, and preserved its history it would be an easy task for me to speak of this church's first pastor. But in this they showed no interest, nor kept any record. But is not too late to begin now and record from the aged of the Church, who are with us yet, and from misty records, meager as they may be, and by tradition, though faulty as it often is, be able to give you some information of Rev. Christian Smith Kreider, his Ancestors and their Descendants.
We live largely from the past and our only index for the future is guided entirely by that past history, so it is proper in these exercises to speak of that family who did so much and are doing so much now in the branch of the Christian denomination.
Bacon says: 'History makes wise men'; and while it is not our province to say anything tonight that will make you wise, but if in what I do say will please you and your patience will bear with me, then will I be fully repaid for being with you.
In the year 1716, long before the hostilities for the red men bore down upon the settlers in this and adjoining counties, or before the thunders of the guns in the American Revolution were heard, there landed upon the shores of the Delaware river, in the province of Pennsylvania, a goodly number of emigrants of the devoted, sturdy and God-fearing Swiss, German and Huguenot settlers, a number of whom were followers of Simon Menno.
Amongst these was one Jacob Kreider, the head of the numerous family of that name in America, a Swiss Mennonite refugee. As he was a communicant of that denomination commonly called Mennonite, and their creed being adverse to the keeping of records and history, very little is known of him or his descendants, except that which we have by tradition, and that is very meager.
Mr. Kreider settled in what was (1729) Lancaster township, in what is now Lancaster, Pa. Had he been a follower of Luther or Zwingli, we surely could have found the accustomed "Tauf Schien," if nothing else, to tell the story of his family, by this accustomed relic and record which is missing amongst this people.
He had issue among other children, one son named Martin, who had a son John.
This John Kreider resided, prior to the French and Indian War, in what was at that time Donegal Township, Lancaster county, Province of Pennsylvania.
He (Jacob) had a brother who had already settled and taken up a large acreage of land in that fertile part of the present territory of Lebanon county, now known as South Lebanon township, which territory was then settled sparsely by the Hebron Moravians.
His brother John, who resided across the Cornwall Hills, was a blacksmith by trade, in connection with farming, and it was necessary for the brother residing in Lebanon township to visit him twice a year to secure his smith work, and as there were no public roads across this mountain, it was necessary for him, on his journey, to mark and blaze the trees, so as to find his way back, which required no small amount of labor. He eventually proposed to his brother John to take up his residence in his neighborhood, and if he did so, he would at a nominal price, give him a fine farm out of his large plantation.
This was accepted and John Kreider became a citizen of Lancaster county, north of the mountain often called South Mountain, which is now in the present Lebanon county.
Here he had born to him a number of children, viz,: Michael, whose daughter Rebecca was the daughter-in-law of Rev. John Troxel, the founder and pioneer of our Church in Northwestern Pennsylvania, in what was then Westmoreland county, and now within the bounds of Allegheny Conference of our church.
Another son was Henry, from whom descends your worthy citizen, David Witmer Crider, of York, Pa., wrongly spelled with a C for Kreider.
A third son, Jacob, from whom descend the Kreiders of Annville, who are so closely identified with our church, and some of whom are known by many of you.
And the last, though oldest, son was Martin Kreider, the grandfather of Christian Kreider.
Martin Kreider, the last, was born Feb. 14, 1740, and was reared in the faith of his forefathers and became a minister of the Mennonite Church.
In the great religious awakening from morality to experimental religion, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, he became a follower of Behm and Otterbein and was a co-laborer with them and as is recorded in our Church History, was "the oldest minister in the Church next to Behm and Otterbein." He married Catharine Schutz, who resided south of "Stitse Stettle," in what is now South Lebanon, Pa., and was a neighbor of Abraham Le Roy, whose daughter Susanna was the wife of Rev. Philip William Otterbein, the founder of our Church.
Rev. Martin Kreider died Nov. 14, 1826, and is buried in the Kreider farm. In endeavoring to find his grave a few years ago, in company with his grandson, Abraham Miller (an uncle of your former pastor, I. P. Miller), by whom we were informed that he was buried in Kreider Kirche Hofe, naver die Schnitz Krick"; and there we found his grave.
Over his grave is erected a very common lime stone, such as is native to the farm and in rude Amentner letters and figures, we found his name and birth and death carved on.
He left issue sixteen children. The first child was Rev. John Kreider, the father of Rev. Christian Smith Kreider, who was born in Lebanon and died in Franklin county, Pa., where he (Rev. John) had, in connection with Rev. Samuel Huber, of precious memory, so much to do in establishing the Church in that territory.
Rev. Martin Kreider's other children were:
Christian Smith Kreider was born Feb. 1, 1811, on the Kreider homestead in Hamilton township, near Kreider church, Franklin county, Pa. His advantages were very small, attending the public schools, such as they were, and working on the farm. He had the special advantage, however, of following precept and example of his grandfather and father, who were both consistent men and ministers of the Gospel.
His father's house in winter and barn in summer were the preaching points for the brethren people, and through this instrumentality he was brought to the foot of the Cross and there became a pupil and eventually a "forestayer" or leader in the church, and by the time he was twenty-two years of age he was an exhorter, and at what time he was given an appointment, or where, we know not. At the conference held in the month of February, 1840, he was appointed to the new charge of York Mission, and how well he succeeded is told by the fact that at the conference held Mar. 1, 1841, in Lancaster county, he was returned and at the conference held Feb. 21, 1842, at Funk's church, now known as the Stone Church, Powell's Valley, Dauphin county, Pa., he was returned for the third year. During the three years the mission was built up and many members brought into the church.
At the Conference of Feb. 22, 1843, at the Fetterholf's Chapel, Franklin county, Pa. he was changed and appointed to the York Circuit, which appointment he filled for two years. The second year the conference gave him as his colleague, Rev. William Wagoner, now a practicing physician of Iowa. Rev. Jacob Rinehart was Mr. Kreider's successor at York Mission station.
It was during the session of this conference, 1844, that the death and memorial service were announced of his father, as having occurred during the year.
At the conference held at Highspire, Feb. 12, 1845, he was sent to Lebanon Circuit, where he preached and served the people and the cause of the Master very acceptably for the years 1845, 6, 7. He was elected, in the year 1848, Presiding Elder of the Lebanon District, East Penn. Conference, the said conference having been for[???] at the Annual Conference held [at] Springville in 1846, of the territory lying east of the Susquehanna River. In the year 1845, he built the Salem church of Lebanon, which was razed to the ground the past summer and a new edifice thereon erected.
Mr. Kreider always preached in the German and was of a mild disposition and possessed in a remarkable degree an abundance of the milk of human kindness. He was a deep reasoner and a sound theologian. One of his favorite texts was Ps. 73:24: "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory": or in German: "Du litest mich nach deinem Rathe und nimest mich endlich mit Ehren an."
He believed strongly in the "mourner's bench," which so many professing Christians of today dislike, and many "Amens" from the hearers when he expounded the Gospel to them.
It is said that when he traveled the York Circuit, he had an appointment some miles from this city, at or near John Kohr's who owned a watermelon patch. In the same community lived an ungodly man and Mr. Kohr's patch received frequent nocturnal visits, but no one was suspicioned. During the Fall, Rev. Christian S. Kreider began a protracted meeting, and one of the first to appear at the mourner's bench was the ungodly man. This somewhat nonplussed and annoyed the brethren, which the pastor noticed, when in his inimitable and calm way he suggested that they "continue to sing and pray a little while yet, as it would not hurt the mourner to do so." As they continued the seeker would continually pray for more strength. "Oh, Lord, give me strength!" he repeated time after time. Presently he seemed to secure the strength he was after, when he arose, and gazing across the congregation, he claimed not only to have the strength to get up, but had sufficient strength to confess that it was he who paid the nightly visits to John Kohr's watermelon patch, and that if he was present in the audience he would ask his forgiveness. Mr. Kohr, being present, arose and forgave him, and it is presumed he became a better man afterward.
In that period of time, covering between the years 1841-6, a great outburst of convic tion and conversion swept through many of the surrounding counties, as well as in York county; and to the power and exertion, backed by the Holy Spirit, were such men as Rev. Kreider permitted to do much for fallen humanity.
After engaging in the work of the Presiding Eldership, his health failed and gradually declined; and during the last part of the year 1749, he was for the most part unable to attend to the duties of his office. During this affliction he had his home with Daniel Myers, whose ancestor was the founder of the town of Myerstown, and who was the father-in-law of the late Rev. Geo. A. Mark.