December 6, 2013

Christian Newcomer, Circuit Rider

A marker in the Beaver Creek Cemetery commemorates Bishop Christian Newcomer, who lived from 1749 to 1830. He was a brother of my gggg-grandfather Henry Newcomer, born in 1744. Sons of Wolfgang Newcomer and Elizabeth Maudelin Weber, the brothers were born in Pennsylvania and moved to Maryland.
Brother Christian was the third Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Christian kept a journal and in his later years he edited it for publication with the assistance of Rev. John Hildt. It's called The Life and Journal of the Rev'd Christian Newcomer, Late Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and can be found online in several formats. (See the PDF here — it's full of names and places in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.)

Let's take a closer look at the plaque.
"Christian Newcomer, Pioneer Minister, Compiler of a biographical journal, and Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, traveled over the Allegheny Mountains 48 times by horseback organizing and administering the work of the Church.

Presented by Pennsylvania Conference, Evangelical United Brethren Church.
1955"

4 comments:

  1. Maybe that's where you get your love for it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing that you can trace your family's history back so far!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tamera, I found it all on the Internet! I inherited a single typed sheet from my grandfather listing his ancestors back to the American Revolution, searched for some of the names, and started posting the results on this blog. Now and then I search for more and find new things!

    ReplyDelete

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