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Reverend
Charles Clark Harrah Rev.
Charles Clark Harrah, pastor of the Congregational Church at Newton, was born in
Hopedale, Harrison County,
Ohio, January 6, 1841. All of his paternal and maternal ancestors came from the
North of Ireland. His
great-great-grandfather Harrah was the only one of that family who immigrated to
this country, and he and his wife made their home in Lancaster County, in
eastern Pennsylvania. They were the parents of two sons, William and Charles.
William had only one son; and some of his descendants are now living in
Philadelphia and in the vicinity of that city.
Charles, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married
Margaret Gilchrist, and they had several children. He was thirty-three years old
when the War of the Revolution commenced, and as a partial compensation for his
services in that struggle he received a land warrant. With
this land warrant and a certificate of loyalty to the United States Government
(which is still in the possession of the family in Pennsylvania), Charles Harrah
moved west, and entered a tract of land in Westmoreland County, about nineteen
miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Clearing
and improving the farm, he there made his home from the time of his arrival, in
1784, until his death, which occurred November 25, 1808, at the age of sixty-six
years. His wife survived him for
nine years, and died at the age of seventy-five years, November 8, 1818.
Their hardships as pioneer settlers none can now imagine. At one time
when both were working in the field, a military officer rode up and called Mr.
Harrah to immediate duty in defense against the Indians.
He was gone for six weeks, and during the entire time his family heard
not a word from him. In times of peril, the family took refuge in a fort near
by. Charles
Harrah and his good wife were zealous Presbyterians, and as soon as they had a
sufficient number of neighbors they joined themselves together with them in the
organization of the Round Hill Presbyterian Church. This is still a prosperous church, and is situated three
miles from Elizabeth, in Allegheny County.
In the graveyard of this church Charles and his wife were buried. Their
children, Caroline, Nancy, William, Margaret, Polly, James, Alexander, Samuel
and Jane, married, lived and died in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and
Kentucky. James
Harrah, the twin brother of Alexander, and the grandfather of our subject,
married Margaret McNeil. Guided by
a friendly Indian, they selected their farm home, in 1803, in the woods of
Jefferson County, Ohio, three miles from what is now Hopedale, and seventy-five
miles from their Pennsylvania home. Their nearest neighbor was one mile away.
The first Sabbath they spent in Ohio, two other men. Rev. John Rea and
Daniel Welch, and their families, met with them for worship under the shade of a
beech tree, near by which was a spring. At
once they resolved to form the Beech Spring Church, which in after years became
one of the strongest Presbyterian Churches in Ohio. For forty-two years Mr. Kea
continued to be the pastor of the church, and James G. Harrah was an Elder. The
children who comprised the family of James and Margaret Harrah were Charles,
William, James, Alexander,
John, Adam, Sarah and Ann. All of
them married and settled in Ohio. In after years, William,
Alexander and Ann moved to Iowa. The good wife and faithful mother, Margaret
Harrah died at the home she had helped to make December 7, 1834, in her
fifty-ninth year; James G. Harrah passed away December 2, 1871, in the
ninety-third year of his life. He
had married a second time, the union being childless; the second wife died
several years prior to his demise. He
was a man of great physical power and strength of purpose. At the log-rollings
and raisings no one could lift so much as he.
In height be was six feet and two inches, and be carried himself erect
even in his extreme old age. William
Neill Harrah, the father of our subject, was born October 26, 1809.
His education was begun with the thought of preparing himself for the
ministry, but his preference for a trade was soon made manifest, and so he
learned that of a tanner with William Delaney.
The tan yard was located on the farm of Philip Delaney, which afterward
became the village of Hopedale and the seat of the first normal school
established in Ohio. William lived with the family of Philip Delaney, and there
became engaged to Deborah Delaney, whom he married November 25, 1830. She was
born October 24, 1810, and died at Newton, Iowa, November 19, 1893, in her
eighty-fourth year. Our
subject's grandfather, Philip Delaney, was born in the house of Gen. George
Washington, in Virginia, in 1767. His
father, John Delaney, was born in Ireland, and after coming to America he worked
on President Washington's farm until he was killed while breaking a colt for
General Washington's use. There bad
long been in the employ of the Washington family an Irish girl, to whom John was
married, and they became the parents of two children, John and Philip.
The latter was a child of three years when his father was killed. As soon
as he was old enough, be was bound out to a blacksmith, with the agreement that
when be was twenty-one years of age he was to receive a new suit of clothes, a
paired shoes, and a horse and a saddle. The conditions were fulfilled, and Philip left the shop of
his hard master the day he was twenty-one, and started for Fayette County, Pa.,
where he opened a blacksmith shop of his own. On the way there horse was killed
while in a stable over night, and he was compelled to finish his journey on
foot. While
in Pennsylvania, Philip Delaney became acquainted with and married Elizabeth
Betts, a young widow, whose maiden name was Clark and who was born in
Elizabethtown, NJ, January 6, 1770. Philip
was prospered in his business, and in 1803 they determined to move into Ohio,
enter a section of land, and to open a blacksmith shop there.
The same year (1803) that James G. Harrah settled on his farm in
Jefferson County, Philip Delaney settled on his farm in Harrison County, three
miles away. The journey to look for
the new home was made by him on foot. When he swam the Ohio River with his
clothes tied on his head, a friendly Indian observed him and greeted him as he
reached the Ohio shore. They
went together and selected the farm. As
a worker in iron, Philip Delaney could make anything that the country required.
At the close of each day he turned over his earnings to his faithful
wife, who was a Christian woman of beautiful spirit and of excellent business
talent. He never allowed the first
of January to pass without paying all his debts and settling all accounts.
He was fond of the athletic amusements of the times, and never found his
match as boxer and wrestler. He was of stout build and about five feet and ten
inches in height. He died at
Hopedale in 1852, in his eighty-sixth year.
His noble wife died in 1849, in her seventy-ninth year. All
the grandparents of our subject, and others of the kindred, are buried at Beech
Spring, Harrison County, Ohio, and a few rods from the beech tree and spring
where, in 1803, James G. Harrah united with others in forming the Presbyterian
Church. On
the birthday of Grandmother Delaney, the subject of this sketch was born in the
home of these grandparents, in Hopedale. It
was at her request that her family name (Clark) was made a part of his name. Philip's mother came to Ohio, and lived with them until her
death. His brother John, who never married, was killed in war with Indians near
Sandusky, Ohio. He had participated in four engagements without receiving on
injury, but was killed in the fifth battle.
The children of Philip and Elizabeth Delaney, John, William, Samuel,
Elizabeth, Catharine, Mary and Deborah, settled about the old homestead and in
different parts of Ohio. The
children of William Neill and Deborah (Delaney) Harrah are as follows: William
Delaney, who for many years was engaged in. the insurance business, and is now a
resident of Detroit, Michigan; Charles Clark subject of this sketch; Albert L.,
who was a farmer and grower of fine flock near Newton; Adam Myers, an attorney
in Newton; George B., who has made his occupation that of farming and dealing in
horses; Mary C., the wife of W.H. Parkin, of Galva, IL; Sarah, who married L. E.
Hall of Newton; Lucian, who died in his thirty-fourth year, at Helena, Mont.;
and James, John, Caroline and Margaret, who died in Ohio while yet children. In
order to give their family a better opportunity in the world, William N. and
Deborah Harrah moved from Ohio to Iowa in 1853. They located on a farm near
Davenport. There the surroundings were not satisfactory, and in 1855 they sold
the farm and moved to Jasper County. After
some time they located permanently on a farm six miles north of Newton, where
Albert now resides. Here, a few years earlier had been located Wittemberg
College by a colony of Free Presbyterians. The purpose was to have it after the
plan of Oberlin (Ohio) College. Rev.
Thomas Merrill, a man of talent and zeal in all good things, was pastor of the
church and was at the head of the movement to establish the school in this new
country. All of them had come there on the unoccupied prairie and entered their
land from the Government. At this date (December 1893), William N. Harrah is in
his eighty-fifth year, and lives in Newton, which has been the post office
address of his family since April 1885. At
the time of the removal to Iowa, Charles Clark Harrah was a robust boy of
thirteen. The family was large, money was scarce, and it was with great
difficulty at times that the wants of all could be provided for.
His life was not different from that of any other poor boy who knows
nothing but work and care every day. He
had no time for play, and was so quiet and reserved in disposition
that he talked but little to anyone. He saw but little of brightness or cheer in
life, and cared little for it. The other children were younger,
and to Charles and Albert especially came the duty to plow up the prairie, make
rails and posts, build fences, and to do the other necessary work in order to
form a home. William, who was older had married, and lived in Davenport. The
father's health was not always good, and sometimes the mother was sick, but all
worked together and for each other, and, while poor, they were by no means
unhappy. There was no intimation in those earlier years that Charles sometime
would become a minister of the Gospel. He
was so extremely timid that he shrank from any kind of publicity.
He was more than seventeen years of age before be attempted to read or
recite anything in school, and his maneuvering to get out of such exercises was
wholly on account of his timidity. When
finally he was able to conquer this, it was done because be saw the opportunity
thereby to help others. His first special bent of talent was in the line of
mechanics. After his father gave up other lines of business in Ohio be follower
carpentering and house building. This
seemed to be the natural occupation of both father and son; and if the father
had kept on at that business, it is probable that Charles would have become a
house-builder. He had advanced far
enough so that with his own hands he bad built several small houses. The
awakening of the intellectual life of our subject was occasioned by a long and
dreadful experience of religious doubt. At first there were only times when he
was involved in skepticism; at other times he prayed and read the Scriptures
religiously. Through it all,
the poverty of the family was so great that be failed to get out among others so
au to get needed help. A kind neighbor, A. Failor, encouraged him to take books
from his library, and in time a literary society was formed in the community,
and a small library was collected that became of great service.
A deeply felt need at that time was a copy of the New Testament that
could be carried in the pocket, to read at the odd moments that a watchful and
anxious mind could find in the daily farm work. Early
in the year a mink trap was set, and day after day prayer was made that a mink
might be caught, in order to get a New Testament by the sale of its skins; but
no mink came and after weeks of waiting the trap was abandoned. When the springtime
came, one day when Charles was hauling a
load of rails from the timber, the dog, which was walking along in the road in
front of the oxen, suddenly jumped off to one side into the prairie grass and
caught something. It proved to be
the long-desired mink and with its skin the Testament was bought; which is now
preserved among the relics of the past, but which for many years was
a pocket companion. Poverty
pressed so hard that it seemed impossible to get books and clothing so as to be
able to attend the common school. There was no railroad nearer than sixty miles,
and there was almost no market for the produce of the farm. Many a load of wheat
Charles hauled these sixty miles and sold for twenty 'five or fifty cents a
bushel. He would take along feed
enough for himself and team, and sleep in the wagon at night.
The memory of some of these experiences is not pleasant, when the thunder
and the lightning and the storms of the new prairie country made the nights
dreadful. Many of the sloughs were
not bridged and such inconveniences of pioneer life went along with its other
hardships. As
it became more and more evident that Charles must have some schooling, the
struggle became intense to do the work required of him for the success of the
farm (and it was a matter of conscience never to slight anything), and keep up
with his class, who attended school regularly, while be went only three months
in a year. From the time he was
seventeen until be was twenty-two years of age; he cannot remember that he spent
at any one time five minutes in idleness. Whenever he was not asleep he was at
work; be always had a book or paper with him for use at any moment of
opportunity, and entirely abstained from attendance at social meetings and
places of amusement. His parents never set him to any task, or put any burden
upon him, but the determination to do all needed work and to help provide for
the family, and at the same time to advance in knowledge required
every minute and the utmost possible exertion. One
of the trying times in the struggle (and it may be gives as an illustration of
many others) was in his nineteenth year. After
working diligently through the summer on tile farm, and at the same time using
every minute he could for study in order to take a place with the class that he
had been with in former years, it seemed that he could not get the necessary
clothing and books to go to school. The
school had already commenced. Wheat
was in the bin to sell, but there was no market for it. He took a load of it,
prayed for the Lord to open somebody's heart to help him, and started for
Newton. At a drug store books were
kept and a small stock of boots. He
must have both, but the proprietor would not take more wheat than would buy one
or the other of them. After several
failures he succeeded in finding a place where be could get the boots.
He then returned to the drug store to get the books. However, the
proprietor would not let Charles have the books, and scolded him severely for
trading for the boots elsewhere, saying that be always required money for books.
Timid as the lad was, he could not utter a word in reply, but only burst
out in agonizing words of despair, "Oh, please, sir, I have done the best I
could. He dared not leave the store, for the books could not be had elsewhere.
For a long time be stood in silence, gazing at the coveted books on the shelves. At last the merchant roughly commanded him to bring in the
wheat, take the books, and go home. When
he was out of the town and found himself alone on the prairie, he got out of the
wagon, and kneeling on the ground thanked God for the books, and cried with joy
from the thought that his anxiety was ended, and now be could have another three
months in school. When, in after years he had given a lecture to a congregation
of strangers far from his early home, the man who had scolded him came pressing
through the crowd to take the speaker's hand. No excuse would avail; he must go
home with him and stay all night. Before a word was said about the time when the
poor country boy was almost killed by the scolding. By
the ordering of Providence, the time came when the prairie land where the boy
with his new boots and books prayed and cried had to be made into a farm. Now
there are a hundred beautiful evergreens there, and it is known as Evergreen
Hill Farm, and Charles planted the trees and is the owner of the land. At
twenty-one years of age our subject was sufficiently advanced in his studies to
enable him to secure a certificate to teach a district school. Never was there a
mortal happier over an earthly success. Now
he would have money, and could prosecute his studies.
Twenty dollars a month and board himself was the wages he received; but
never did money go so far and do so much to help a young man as that money did.
He was no longer a religious doubter, but a disciple of Jesus, determined
to fit himself for the Gospel ministry. It would require ten years more of
struggle in order to get the education he desired; but it must be done, and it
was done. For
generations the Harrah family had been Presbyterians. Under the preaching of
Alexander Campbell, our subject's father and mother became his followers about
the time of their marriage in Ohio. By
listening from his earliest childhood to the talk of debaters about the disputed
matters in religion, he grew up with the thought that between the teaching of
Campbell was those of the Presbyterians there was something so great that one
took pleasure in hating the other. As he came to know about other sects, they
impressed him in the same way. It was a boy's way of looking at things, but he
finally settled down into the conviction that if Jesus made such a religion, it
could not be the true, and that the great God had a better religion for the
world than Christianity. For two
years he purpose was fixed like steel, that be must, for himself and for the
world, find out that better religion. During that time he was never in any kind
of religious meeting, but every available minute was devote to reading and
thinking. He read thousands of pages of theological works and books treating of
the history and philosophy of religion.
He read the Old Testament trough twice, and during the period of inquiry
read the New Testament through seven times. He came to see clearly, a few months
after he was twenty years old, that be had misunderstood Christianity and that
things which he supposed grew out of it were utterly foreign to its spirit of
life. He came to see that it can no more be expressed in anybody's creed than
life can be; and that while opinions about religion are everybody's right, it is
the religion of life in the spirit that everybody needs. With
his determination fully made, our subject went to the first meeting that he bad
attended for over two years, and, when the opportunity was given, he expressed
his firm intention to live a Christian life. It seemed to him that be ought to
make the confession in baptism, and as he had no thought of connecting himself
with any particular church, but rather with the church universal, he did net
know where to find one to baptize him. Rev. Thomas Merrill, the pastor in the
community, came to understand his difficulty, and he assured him of a welcome to
work as he pleased and as long as he wished in the Free Presbyterian Church, and
shortly after that he was baptized, and united with that church. He did not then
know of the Congregational Church as a union church; and when that became known
to him, he saw at once that he was a Congregationalist. Rev. George Poage, lived
at Wittemberg, and both he and Mr. Merrill thought well of the Congregational
Church. As the people came to understand the matter, by an almost unanimous vote
the Free Presbyterian Church at Wittemberg became Congregational. The
great Civil War was now in progress, and the dearest friend our subject had,
James Vanatta, enlisted in the army. Charles also volunteered to go, but from
that day troubles gathered about him. His
mother would not consent to the step, and begged him to continue his preparation
for the ministry. The kind commander, Captain Garrett, came to understand the
situation, and sent the youthful volunteer word to wait for a time. His spirit
was broken, and he had not the courage to continue his work.
Then a new consecration was made, and he began to hold meetings in the
neighboring schoolhouses. There were frequent conversations, and more than a
hundred before he was he was licensed to preach by an Association. At
that time the Jasper County Bible Society wished his to visit the families of
the county in the interest of that work.
He found in that county eighteen hundred families, and finished the work
in November 1864/ He spent a school year in Griswold College, at Davenport, and
at other times continued his studies privately in the school at Wittemberg.
After he began Christian work, he found a sympathetic friend and a zelous helper
in the daughter of the pastor, and at twenty-five years of age he married Miss
Sarah E. Merrill. Soon afterward they went to Iowa College, where they continued
to study, without the interruption of any vacation, for year and a half. From
Grinnell Rev. Mr. Harrah went to Des Moines County, where he did six weeks' work
for the Bible Society. He and his
wife then went to New York City, the one to enter Union Theological Seminary and
the other to attend the New York Medical College for Women.
At the close of two years' study there, Mrs. Harrah was graduated; but
consumption had been doing ifs fatal work, and she returned to Iowa to live only
a few weeks. She was a woman of remarkable talents, with unselfish Christian
purposes in living. Her body
lies in the graveyard of the old home church at Wittemberg. After
the death of his wife, Mr. Harrah preached for three months in Monroe, Jasper
County, Iowa, thirteen miles from Newton. He then started to return to New York,
but on reaching Chicago was persuaded to take his last year in theological study
there, and in April 1874, he was graduated from the Chicago Theological
Seminary. He decided to return to Monroe, Iowa, and continue work there. He also
preached at Prairie City, Mound Prairie and Otley.
August 3, 1870, he was ordained by a Council, at Monroe.
In November 1870, he returned to New York, and married Miss Sarah A.
Ferguson, a classmate and intimate friend of his former wife.
She was born in New Hampshire and belongs to an old New England family of
Scotch origin. She was a member of
Henry Ward Beecher's church, but on account of his absence from the city they
were married by Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, of whose church Mrs. Harrah’s brother
is Elder. For seventy days after their return to Iowa; they were so busy at
meetings that they did not spend one evening in their own rooms. In
the spring of 1871 an urgent call came to go to Missouri. Mr. Harrah felt that
as he was not permitted to take part in the War for the Union, he possibly had
some other kind of work to do in that part of the country, where the Union Army
had done such patriotic service. He decided to go to Brookfield, MO, and in
April 1871, the removal was made. Within
three months after he began to preach there the church became self-supporting,
and the growth was steady and continuous during his pastorate of five years.
When be resigned, the church offered him a long vacation by a unanimous vote,
and requested him to withdraw his resignation; but be wanted to return to Iowa,
and Mrs. Harrah's health seemed to require that he should do so. In
February 1876, they moved back to Monroe. After a year they built their first
house, in. order to make a home for themselves. The agreement with the church
permitted Mr. Harrah to do much work on his farm, fourteen miles away, which was
a great benefit to his health. The
changes in the community, by removals, prepared the way for the consideration of
calls that came from other churches. The
Church at Galva, IL, sent a unanimous call. This was repeated a second time, but
was refused both times. Alter
several weeks it was again repeated, and this time it was decided to accept,
although it was with greatest sorrow that he concluded to leave the good people
of Monroe. December
1, 1878, Mr. Harrah preached his first sermon in Galva, and he continued to be
pastor of that church
until April 1889. The prosperity of
the church was continuous during this time, and the vote was unanimous asking
him to remain when he made known his purpose to go. While in Galva he wrote
three tracts which have had a large circulation, viz.: "Jesus, the
Emancipator of Women," "Children in the church," and "Blood
will Tell." He also suggested
to The Advance, of Chicago, the publishing of weekly prayer meeting topics and
prepared list of topics and wrote the weekly notes on them for first year. He
then did the same work for
The Union Signal, also of Chicago. After
the long service in Galva, Mr. Harrah hoped to return to Iowa and rest for a
short time, but a call came from Peoria, and be was so strongly urged to go
there and start a new church in a needy part of the city, that he concluded to
accept. In April in 1889, he moved
to Peoria, and in June the Plymouth Church, with ninety-six members, was
organized. The membership
continued, and early in 1890 a branch work, known as Pilgrim Church, was
started, and a suitable meetinghouse was erected. Mr. Harrah was worn with
overwork, and an attack of pneumonia left him in such a weakened condition that
he decided to return to his farm in Iowa and rest for a time. The people were
very unwilling to have him go away, but August 11, 1890, they again left a most
affectionate and faithful people and removed to Evergreen Hill Farm, at Newton. Meantime
ill health had compelled the pastor to leave Newton.
The church was very weak and discouraged.
Mr. Harrah was assured that if he would accept the pastorate no more work
would be required of him than he would be able to do, and that many who were
neglecting church attendance in the community would be in his congregation.
The situation of affairs determined him again to try.
The life in the country and the mile of travel back and forth to the
church proved a great benefit. Instead
of giving out, his health improved. The
congregation increased and the church was strengthened by additions to its
membership. It was thought impossible to build a new church, but a test
subscription was circulated. In one week it amounted to $10,000; and in two
weeks it was over $12,000, and a committee was appointed to build. The result is
a beautiful church edifice. The
church has continued to be strengthened by additions to its congregation
membership. Wherever they have lived during the twenty-three years that they
have served together, Mr. and Mrs. Harrah have had good people to work with.
No manner of church quarrel or division of any kind has ever arisen to
hinder the progress of good work. From the time he was ordained to the ministry
Mr. Harrah has never ceased to be a pastor.
In order to accomplish more for the church he has now moved into Newton. At
his last birthday, January 6, 1898, Mr. Harrah was fifty-two years old. His
physical strength and endurance he owes largely to his lifelong temperance in
eating and drinking. He has never
used any kind of alcoholic liquor or tobacco, and not since he was seventeen
years of age has he used tea or coffee. He
and his wife are the parents of one child, William Ferguson Harrah, now
twenty-two years old. He expects to
follow a business life, and from the time of his early boyhood has been settled
in his mind to give his influence and efforts along with those of his parents,
in order to advance in the world the great objects of the Christian religion. Mr.
Harrah has written much in the preparation of sermons, but in the pulpit his
method is largely extemporaneous. These
three rules have guided his pulpit work from the beginning of his ministry: 1.
To preach the Gospel, and not religious philosophy or things about the Gospel;
2. Never to go into the pulpit without having made the best preparation that the
time and circumstances allow; 3. Never to preach without aiming at definite
impression that he would be satisfied with in case the sermon proved to be his
last one. The manner and spirit of his preaching are indicated by the rule,
which he always keeps in mind, "As a dying man to dying men, So preach I as if I ne'er should preach again.” |
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