the

Reverend Captain John Steele

He was born in Ireland in 1715 and burst into history and into the hearts of his posterity with glory.

So far, not much is known about his early life in Ireland but we have learned that he was a member of the of the "Old Side" Presbyterian Church. Some say he was ordained in Ireland, some say he joined the minisrty in Pennsylvania.   We know he was in Pennsylvania in 1736 but we are not sure when he immigrated. In Ireland, he made a promise to marry a Young lady but he chose to marry another lady in America.

We quote from  "Dickenson College, a History by Charles Coleman Sellers:

With all else in order, there was still the question about a girl in Londonderry. It would seem that the candidate had already answered this to his own satisfaction by marrying another, not long after his arrival in America. Synod, however, before admitting any man to the sacred calling, must have full assurance upon every point of worthiness. In knowledge of Scripture, in doctrine, in adherence to the Westminster Confession of Faith, John Steel had shown himself beyond challenge or demur. He could preach cogently from a given text. He could write and speak Latin and had an adequate command of Greek. It was agreed that the Presbytery of New Castle might accept him as a licentiate upon trial, while a letter went out, and an answer was awaited, to clear up that rumor of a previous promise of marriage. This was at Philadelphia, at the annual meeting of Synod, May, 1742. The reply, when it came, must have shown that, if promise there had been, the lady was now ready to renounce it, a reasonable view. Synod, on May 24, 1744, received from the New Castle brethren their report of Mr. Steel's ordination.

From "Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley PA. 1776-1876" by Alfred Nevin, d.d., LL. D we read:

The First notice we find respecting Mr. Steel is in the minutes of the Presbytery of Donegal for the may 25th 1736 when the principal members of the congregation of Nottingham "Agree to carry into execution a method for supporting John Paton and John Steel." 

Going back to the sellers account we read:

So began a ministry of preaching and teaching which, as if drawn by some inner force toward the storm centers of danger and disputation, would end in the remote frontier village of Carlisle thirty-five years later. Even before his ordination, John Steel had supplied churches out along the western fringe of settlements. For the Presbytery of Donegal he had gone to Rockfish and Roanoke in the spring of 1743, and in the fall was at Great Conewago, near what is now Hunterstown, not far from Gettysburg.

Although we can't be sure, It is believed that John Married Margaret Hutchison in 1743 in Conewago, Lancaster, near what is now Huterstown, Adams county Pennsylvania. It is rumored that Margaret was the sister of Elizabeth who later became the mother of Andrew Jackson the 7th President of the United States. For John, being Married into an influential family must have been helpful in his carreer.

Again from sellers:

From these events and those which followed one can draw a picture of the man-aged about twenty-eight, bearing himself with the firmness and assurance of one of God's elect, speaking plainly and with decision, a man made for leadership. Friends could rely upon him, and he would not relent toward an enemy. He would face danger readily, and hold all the loyalty and admiration that comes to the resolute and brave man. He would acquire, in time, a good measure of worldly wealth, another sign of predestined favor from above.

The minutes of the Presbytery of Donegal, September 7, 1743, record Great Conewago's call to "Mr. Steel, Probationer of the Presbytery of New Castle, " and with this there is a notation on a unanimous agreement regarding a school, the papers on which (alas) had been mislaid. Among ministers such as these, whose sermons were, in effect, lectures on theology rather than mere appeals to faith and kindiness, education was a primary concern. Teacher's desk and pulpit stood together, schoolroom form and pew. Great Conewago must have promised a congenial field for him, but it was a teacher's desk that would keep John Steel in New Castle Presbytery for the next eight years.

It was at New London, Chester County, Pennsyvania that Lydia, Elizabeth, and John Jr were born The Reverend taught at the New London Academy until his mentor, Francis Alison left in 1752. again from sellers:

John Steel, whose first call had been to the wilderness churches, had now returned to that field, just as a storm of flame and terror was about to break over the mountains of the Pennsylvania frontier. The records of the Presbytery of Donegal, 1750 to 1759, are lost, but we have glimpses of him, here and there, from other sources. In 1752, he had charge of the churches of East and West Conococheague, now Greencastle and Mercersburg. His "old white church" in the western parish was surrounded by a stockade when the Indian raids began after Braddock's defeat in the summer of 1755. It was garrisoned by its own military company, commanded by the pastor. The "Reverend Captain" becomes a legend of the embattled wilderness. After his fort on Church Hill was burned by the enemy, he was commissioned a captain in the provincial service.

In the Nevin account we read:

In 1743 while he was a licentiate, he sent to Virginia and to Conestoga and after his ordination he was probably settled for about seven years at New london Chester County, Near the borders of Maryland and Delaware. in 1745 he was appointed by synod on an important commitee to report a plan of union with the synod of New York.

The next child Margaret, may have been born near Greencastle but most probably was born at her Granparent's house in Conewago. John's wife would have needed a safe environment to deliver her babies and according to the records, there was trouble with the French and Indians. Also, John was preaching in various places during that time. 

Returning to the Nevin account we read:

In the year 1752 possible earlier, he removed to west Conococheague, in what is now Franklin County, where he had charge of two congregations which, however, were yet in their infancy and differed from each other on the religious questions of the time. They were also in the midst of the perils of Indian depredations, which were   then so terrible that not unfrequently the inhabitants of that part of Cumberland Valley were obliged to quit their habitations and crowd into more settled parts of the province.

The people never ventured to assemble for worship without being fully equipped and watched by sentries against surprise. One of the meeting houses in which Mr. Steel preached was fortified as a fort and after a while was burned to the ground. A number of whole families under his charge were bararously murdered. Such was his coolness, Courage, and skill, that he was chosen to be the captain of the company formed among settlers, and several expeditions are mentioned under his command, into coves and over the mountains against the enemy. The government finally commissiond him as a captain of the provincial troops, and he was for many years active in the service. Under such circumstances it was impossible for him to hold his congregations to regularity in worship, but ample opportunities werre offered for his private ministrations among the afflicted. In the end his churches were broken up and he was obliged to seek a residence elswhere.

This was a time of unrest for the Reverand. there is a story told about him coming into a church that was filled with his congregation. He walked up to the coat rack and hung his Muskett on a hook by the sling. then turned around to preach his sermon. During which, word was recieved about one of the families being attacked and killed. The Reverand closed his sermon, went and took down his gun, and led his congregation out to chase down the perpertrators.

This is from the Pennsylvania archives:

STEELE'S MEETING HOUSE - Judge Chambers, in a note published in the Appendix to Pennsylvania Archives, says: "The first fort of which I have information, in the Conococheague Settlement, which comprises nearly the whole of the County of Franklin, was at the Rev. John Steele's meeting house, which was surrounded by a rude Stockade Fort in 1755. It was erected shortly after Braddock's defeat, we suppose, as it was referred to in the Indian Invasion in November, 1755. ("November ye 25, 1755. The Reverand John Steele at Conegochig: 2 quarter casks of powder; 2 cwt. of lead," [Government Account]). It was situated where what is called The Presbyterian White Church, south of Fort Loudoun about five miles, and east of Mercersburg three miles. It was a place of notoriety during the Indian Wars." Upon a visit of the Indians to this settlement in November 1755," the Rev. Mr. Steele, with others, to the number of about 100, went in quest of them, but with no success."

In a letter from Peters Township to Gov. Morris, dated April 11, 1756, Mr. Steele says: "As I can neither have the men, arms, nor blankets, I am obliged to apply to your Honor for them; the necessity of the circumstances has obliged me to muster before two magistrates the one-half of my company whom I enlisted, and am obliged to order guns. I pray that with all possible expedition, 54 fire arms and as many blankets, and a quantity of flints, may be sent to me; for since McCord's Fort has been taken, and the men defeated and pursued, our county is in the utmost confusion, great numbers have left the county, and many are preparing to follow. May it please your honor to allow me an ensign, for I find a sergeant's pay will not prevail with men to enlist in whom much confidence is reposed." - [Pennsylvania Archives, Volume II, p. 623

In 1756 John was a captain in Armstong's expedition against Kittanning. (the Indian stonghold). After the battle, the Reverand's company had come through it with no casualties.

returning to the Sellers Narrative with some changes made by the author:

By 1758, things were looking up. Then the royal and provincial forces mustered at Carlisle for their advance upon Fort Pitt, moving out at last in three long columns, "with drums tapping at the head of each," to keep them within distance of one another in the forest shadows. The days of terror and despair had passed. Auspiciously also—though events would prove it an impermanent solution—the two rival Presbyterian synods reunited. It was time, now, for the Reverend Captain to think first of his sacred calling. His family, Margaret Steel and their brood of four daughters and one sons, must have found a refuge somewhere during those years of Steel's Fort and the ravaged land, and it is Carlisle that he has in mind for a settled living.

According to the Nevin account John spent part of 1754 preaching at Nottingham, and then York, and Shrewsbury. but As the congregations of Upper and Lower Pennsbough were then vacant John was sent to supply them, and in 1759 they united in calling him to become their pastor. in accepting this call he engaged to give a large portion of his time to Carlisle.

Again from Sellers:

Just west of the town by a mile and a half, on a hill above Conodoguinet Creek, stood the old log church of Meeting House Springs. For ten years it had been without a settled pastor, though we may feel sure that Captain Steel had filled its pulpit from time to time. Carlisle was now a boom town of the west, expected to grow quickly in size and prosperity. The Episcopalians would soon be building a church at its heart on the public square, and the Presbyterians, overwhelmingly the larger denomination, should have their meetinghouse there as well. This was the parish for John Steel, and he would take the congregation in from Meeting House Springs to the town. Unfortunately, however, another shared the thought. Like so many, the congregation had been an uneasy mixture of Old Side, New Side, and New Side had a candidate of its own. As a result, with the union, there would be two congregations instead of one, and more sharply divided than ever. Old Side Donegal Presbytery had been a comfortable coterie of Captain the Rev. John Steel, Captain the Rev. John Elder, and four other stalwarts of like persuasion. The union had now added to their number one of their own ilk and four New Siders. One of the four was coming in upon his own nomination, and this was the one who had also chosen Carlisle as the vineyard he would till in the Lord's service.

But there is some controversy over who was the Pastor that the people wanted. There are two sides to the story and who was right depends on which story you want to follow. The fact is, there was a feud between the young man (Duffield) and the Reverand Captain. There were things said and done that we won't explore in this narrative. Eventually Synod chose to build two churches and there were enough people to support both churches. In 1760, daughter Sarah was born followed by Robert, Andrew, and Jean. To quote Nevin; "It was a long time in the difficult circumstances of that period before the stone church on the square, in Carlisle, could have been tenantable, and we know that Mr. Steele's congregation must hav had some other place of meeting in town. Tradition tells us of a "two story dwelling," two doors north of the public square on hanover street, in which Mr. S, resided, and some intimations are given that it was used also for public worship.

Again from Sellers account:

He is emerging now as a man of property. His home is on the other side of Hanover Street from his church. His wide tract of land toward Bedford in the west is rising in value and he is a substantial investor in Carlisle town lots. We find him (along with Francis Alison, Alexander McDowell and other staunch characters) subscribing £6 per annum to the fund for the relief of poor ministers, a sum which may be contrasted to his starting salary at the New London school, £15 a year, a mere tenth of his present stipend. On the back cover of one of his manuscript sermons, "For ye 2nd Sab. of Jany. 1769 for ye Evening," there is written out a schedule of interest accretions for a ten-year period, supporting other evidence of his having become, by that time, banker for his congregation, lending money for its projects.

Again from the Nevin account we learn a bit about this time and about the preacher:

Lets return to the Sellers account:

After the Peace of Paris, February, 1763, Carlisle would grow in population and prosperity, but first another tribulation must be borne. On the cover of one of those sermons of Steel's, all written in that fine, cramped script and bound in booklets small enough to lie in the palm of the hand, you will find the catchwords of his text from Isaiah, 9: 12, 13: "For all this his anger is not turned"; and under that, "June 4th, when the first Acct. Came of Indians doing damage—1763." As the prophet of old had seen the Syrians before him and the Philistines behind, so John Steel saw an unregenerate people between French and Indians: "We wt ye nation we belong to are concerned in a long war wt but little Success, & it is not yet come to a conclusion, & tho' both Civil & religious Liberty in a great measure depend on ye issue of ye war, yet alas, we Continue impenitent, & wickedness yet is on ye prevailing hand among us, & tho by means of this war we are much impoverished & feel ye effects of it, yet we lay it not to heart, & therefore we have much ground to fear yt God will bring ye Calamities of ye war yet nearer to us, nay unto our very bowels as he did lately in Scotland."

This was Pontiac's Conspiracy, which set the whole frontier aflame again, with troops marching through Carlisle once more and the brutal murder of the peaceful Conestoga Indians by "Paxton Boys" from old John Elder's congregation. The furious political campaign of 1764 saw the Presbyterians solidly united against Ben Franklin's party. That had been in October. Peace came at the year's end, with the long pack trains assembling at Carlisle. Then came the chance discovery among the pack train loads of scalping knives and arms for the Indian trade, the news spreading like wildfire through the woods and bringing out the "Black Boys" to raid the trains and seize the contraband. War and the threat of war lingered through these years. In January, 1768, frontier ruffian Frederick Stump and his servant, Hans Eisenhauer, murdered ten Indians, men, women and children, in a drunken frolic—ample provocation to the tribes for war. The two were jailed at Carlisle and then, when ordered brought to Philadelphia, set free by a mob. John Steel followed the pack two miles from town, "but laboured with them in vain," as it was reported to Governor Penn.

In February 1764, John Recieved a call from the Congregations of upper and lower Pennsborough (Silvers Spring). They agreed to each pay him seventyfive pounds on the condition that each should recieve an equal share of his labors this agreement continued at least three years and probably longer. We learn from Nevin's account that "in February 1768 he was commissioned by Governor John Penn to visit with some others about 150 families who had  settled, contrary to law, on the Redstone and the Youghiogeny rivers, and to induce them peaceably to remove. the mission was not altogether successfull, but was performed on his part to the satisfaction of the civil authorities.

Back to the Sellers account:

Carlisle was showing signs of high promise as a prosperous market town and, perhaps, a future metropolis of the west. Handsome stone houses were clustering near the square. The old log courthouse had been replaced by a spacious brick one in 1766, and, by deed dated in September of that year, Thomas and Richard Penn had finally conveyed the land on the square's northwest corner, not to Duffield's group, but to John Steel, John Montgomery and other "trustees appointed by the Presbyterian congregation of Carlisle." As for Mr. Duffield, he had been named by the Synod to accompany the venerable Charles Beatty on a tour through the western settlements in that fall of 1766, stirring up religious zeal among the lonely farms and even a hope of awakening the Indians to God's love -this last an aspiration which had probably never warmed to enthusiasm in the breast of John Steel. The congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, New Side, had sent Mr. Duffield a call in 1763, again in 1766 and again in 1771. He went at last in September, 1772, and was formally installed in the following year. His Carlisle flock sought vainly to lure him back in that year, but would continue to see him from time to time as a visitor.

Duffield's departure had been presaged in the acquisition by Steel's congregation of their church site on the Carlisle public square. Here would be built a larger and grander edifice than the older two, and one in which all could come together. The first contract was signed on February 16, 1769; a second on April 26, 1771.47 Robert Smith, of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia, had drawn the plans. Another memo scribbled on the cover of a John Steel sermon reads, "Feb. ye 4th Sab. 1771. When it appears we are on ye Brink of a Spanish & french war"-an apprehension then sweeping the colonies, but happily dispelled. By 1772, the new church was at last roofed over. Though it would not be entirely finished for another twenty years, it could now be used for worship, and-we may surmise-for the school

In 1770, the Reverand began to put into place the beginnings of what would be Alison's dream. John shared a dream with his old mentor of days past in which they would build an institution of learning that would be a guardian of old side Presbyterianism. Also in 1770 Henry Makinly married his daughter Elizabeth.

again from Sellers:

HENRY MAKINLY (he spelled his name consistently so, though others, including his children, used the more accepted form, "McKinley") must have arrived in Carlisle in the summer of 1769, and probably in response to an appeal for a teacher from Steel or Alison. On November 20, 1770, he purchased (at sheriff's sale) a house on the southeast corner of Hanover Street and Locust Alley, and that event is the best clue we have to the date of his marriage to John Steel's daughter, Elizabeth.

Lydia, the oldest girl, was probably already married to Robert Semple. John Steel, Jr., nineteen at this time, had the law in view as a career, and it is interesting to note that George Duffield, Jr., would also choose that more worldly area of persuasion and contention. The other Steels were Margaret (named for her mother), Mary, Sarah, Robert, Andrew (aged six) and Jean. We know that the father, now a man of fifty-five, owned two fowling pieces, and so can picture him out with his sons for sport and game, a man of action ever. His bold life and his success were such as his son-in-law would now seek also.

John, with others, was the director and teacher and His son in law was the headmaster. Together they began to teach some of the bright lights of the later part of the 18th century. The work however, was interrupted by the activies of the Boston Tea Party and the events that followed.

Sellers put it this way:

the news of Parliament's Boston Port Bill had spread through America, stirring indignation everywhere. John Montgomery was chairman of the meeting at Carlisle, July 12, 1774, which condemned the measure and endorsed the call for a Continental Congress. A year later, with Washington's provincial army besieging Boston, all Cumberland was in a fervor of martial preparation, with John Steel the captain of a company once more and Montgomery on the Committee of Safety. John Creigh would be Lieutenant-Colonel of militia, no less, as of April 9, 1776, and a member of the convention which met at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, in June, and voted unanimously to commit Pennsylvania to the issue of independence from Britain. Cumberland's delegation had itself taken that stand at a stormy meeting in the Carlisle town square—stormy because lawyer James Wilson had dared to brave the overwhelming majority and argue for delay. Wilson was fearful lest immediate separation might destroy the dominance of the ruling political class (as indeed it did). He was decried and rebuked for his audacity—most loudly of all by schoolmaster Henry Makinly, and Makinly was rebuked in turn by John Montgomery's Committee of Safety for the slur on Wilson's patriotism. On that July 4th of the Declaration, John Steel was at Lancaster, where militia delegates, officers and privates, elected their brigadiers.

Makinly recieved a captain's commission in October of 1776 and Enlisted troops to make up the twelfth Pennsyvania Regiment. Of Those he signed up were his brothers in law, John Jr., Robert, and a cousin to the Steele boys; Andrew McClean. they limped into Valley Forge in December and went on to fight longer. Makinly however, resigned his commission. Sellers put it this way: On March 4, 1778, the Twelfth suffered a final indignity—its Colonel was cashiered.24 When the army broke camp on June 18, Captain Makinly was reported as having "Left the Regt.... determined to resign," and that stands as the date of his resignation.25 In July, all that remained of the Twelfth was combined with the Third Pennsylvania in a general "arrangement" of the regiments which brought companies up to strength but sent many officers into a "supernumerary" limbo. Nevin said this about The Reverand Captain:

John was a good provider and staunch in his principles. He spent his life in the service of others. Margaret spent her life in the service of her husband and family. in Februrary 1779 Margaret passed away. In May, John wrote his will and wrote, "being apprehensive that my present disorder will issue in death".  He wrote a codicil in June then another in July. In August there was a "Great Flood" in the area that wiped out many of the farmers in the area and The Reverand Captain passed away. He left a large estate and left his children well provided for. In later years, when those who came after him tried to write histories of the congregations where John served, they found that there were no records of those days. whether this was by design or whether they were lost, we don't know. Because of it, we may not know much about his children and leaves his life wrapped in mystery one mystery that is very hard to solve.

In his will John named a person and treated him almost like a son. He left him in the care of his teenage Daughter, Jean and left no clue as to how he related to his benefactor. The Boy was named by John as; Steele McClean. whether he was a grandson or a nephew we don't know. He wasn't named in the narratives that we have mentioned so we can assume that he wasn't a son.

Aproximately 85 years later, a Great Granddaughter, Eveline McClean Fisher wrote down her family history as she knew it. She told her children that her father was John Steele McClean and that her Great Granfather was Reverand John Steele. Hence the mystery.

John Steele was a pioneer in the cumberland valley as well as other valleys . he cast a big shadow and Sellers in his book called him the "Curtain Raiser". With out the work of John Steele What we know as Dickenson College may never have been a reality. He was a character, he swept his way into history by standing up to the task at hand and earning his title of Captain. But I think that the most important thing that he would want to remembered for would be his service to others in the capacity of Reverand. This clip from Nevin is a very nice tribute: