Early American Presbyterians -- C

David Caldwell, D.D. (1725-1824)

Rev. Elias Boudinot Caldwell (d. 1825)

Rev. James Caldwell (1734-1781)

Soon after Mr. Caldwell's settlement in Elizabethtown commenced War of the Revolution and he entered with all his heart into the controversy. On the formation of the Jersey Brigade, he was at once selected as its chaplain. In June, 1776, he joined the Jersey regiment, then on the northern lines, and under the command of his friend and parishioner, Colonel Dayton. He did not remain with the army until the close of the campaign, but returned to New Jersey, where he was incessantly occupied by his public and parochial duties. His popularity with the army and the people was unbounded, and his practical wisdom and business talents were held in the highest estimation. But his popularity with the friends of the Revolution was equaled if not surpassed by his unpopularity with its enemies. High rewards, it is said, were offered for his capture, and to avoid the dangers to which he was constantly exposed from the Tories and the enemy, then in possession of Staten Island and New York, he removed his residence to Connecticut Farms, a small place distant a few miles from Elizabethtown, where he continued until his death. Such were his own apprehensions and those of his friends, that he usually went armed, and, after the burning of his church, when preaching in what is yet spoken of as the Old Red Store (1884), he was often seen to discumber himself of a pair of pistols and lay them by his side. The church in which he preached was cheerfully yielded as a hospital for sick, disabled, and wounded soldiers, and the worshipers on the Sabbath were often compelled to stand through the service, because of the greasiness of the seats, and the fragments of bread and meat by which they were covered.

In vengeance on the pastor and people this church was fired, on the 25th of January, 1780, by a refugee named Cornelius Hetfield. On the 25th of June following, Mrs. Caldwell was shot by a refugee through the window of a room to which she had retired with her children, for safety and devotion, two balls passing through her body. Her corpse having been drawn forth and laid in the open street, the building was fired, and soon all the surrounding buildings were in ashes. When the army was reduced to a very low state, as to both pay and provisions, Mr. Caldwell was appointed Assistant Commissary General, and in this position his services were of immense value. He was shot by James Morgan, belonging to the Jersey militia, an Irishman by birth, and a man of the most debased and profligate character, and his funeral took place November 28th, 1781.

Mr. Caldwell was a man of unwearied activity, and of wonderful powers of both bodily and mental endurance. Feelings of the most glowing piety and the most fervent patriotism occupied his bosom at the same time, without at all interfering with each other. He was one day preaching to the battalion; the next, providing the ways and means for their support; the next, marching with them to battle; if defeated, assisting to conduct their retreat; if victorious, offering their united thanksgiving to God; and the next, carrying the consolations of the gospel to some afflicted or dying parishioner. Down to a very recent period the aged ones spoke of him with tearful emotion. Never was a pastor more affectionately remembered by a people. And, as a token of the grateful respect and veneration for his memory, one of the townships in the county of Essex has been called by his name. Through the joint agency of a committee of the Cincinnati of New Jersey and a committee of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, a beautiful monument to the memory of Mr. Caldwell was erected over his remains, in the graveyard of that church, to transmit the memory of his patriotism, piety, and exalted worth to generations to come. That monument was dedicated, by appropriate ceremonies, on the 24th of November, 1845, the sixty-fourth anniversary of Mr. Caldwell's death. An appropriate and impressive address was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., which was subsequently published.

See, entry for his son, Elias Boudinot Caldwell .

Joseph Caldwell, D.D. (1773-1835)

In 1804 Mr. Caldwell was transferred from his Professorship to the Presidency of the University. This latter office he continued to hold till 1812, when he resigned it, and returned to the Mathematical chair, being succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Chapman. In 1817 Dr. Chapman retired from the Presidency, and Dr. Caldwell was chosen President again. In 1824 he went to Europe for the purchase of apparatus and books for the University, and returned the following year. He died January 24th, 1835, and a monument to his memory was erected in the grove surrounding the University buildings by the trustees.

Rev. Joseph Caldwell (b pre-1767)

On Thursday, September 27, Presbytery met again in Winchester to ordain Caldwell and install him pastor of Cool Spring and part of the people at Winchester, under the plan of conciliation adopted September 30, 1791 by which he and Legrand were to share the pastoral oversight and to have their own followers.  After a day of inaction, Presbytery met again Saturday, September 29 at 6:30 a.m. and corrected its records to show that "Mr. Legrand is minister of Opeckon, Cedar Creek and part of the people of Winchester"; but Mr. Caldwell from North Ireland declined to be ordained except as exclusive minister of the congregation of Winchester and asked for a letter of dismissal, which Presbytery granted him Monday, October 1, 1792 and a 6 a.m. session, with a testimonial of sound doctrine and good character.  Presbytery then proposed it must declare the pulpit vacant, and both parties unite in one organization under a new man; which proposal both parties declined.  (Present nine ministers and three elders; also horses saddled and bridled for the long trip as far as Lexington, and two day's business spun out to five!)

Rev. Archibald Cameron (abt 1771-1836)

Allan Ditchfield Campbell, D.D. (1791-1861)

Dr. Campbell was deeply interested in the founding of the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny. He went to England and Scotland to collect a library for the institution, and secured upwards of two thousand volumes. After several years of great exertion, as General Agent of the Seminary, and as Instructor in it of Church Government and Discipline, the connection terminated, in 1840, but, to the end of his life, he was an unflinching friend of the institution.

Rev. James Campbell (pre-1710-1781)

For a long time he held his Presbyterian connection with a Presbytery in South Carolina, which was never united with the Synod of Philadelphia. About the year 1773 his connection with Orange Presbytery was formed, and in that connection he continued till his death in the year 1781. Mr. Campbell left behind him no papers of memoranda from which anything can be gleaned respecting his religious exercises, but he has left traditions . . . that he was a zealous, laborious man. His preaching places apear to have been three, for regular congregations, on the Sabbath, besides occasional and irregular preaching, as the necessitites of the country required. For ten or twelve years he preached on teh southwest side of the river below the Bluff, in a meeting-house near Roger McNeill's, and called "Roger's meeting-house." After the death of Mr Campbell, and about the year 1787 the "Bluff Church" was built. Mr. Campbell also preached at Alexander Clark's, and continued his appointments for a number of years until, about the year 1758, when he began to preach on Barbacue at the house of John Dobbins where the "Barbacue Church" was built, about 1765. Mr. Campbell also began to preach soon after his coming to Carolina at "McKay's" now known as "Long Street." one of the places visited by Mr. McAden in his first journey through Carolina. A church was built about the year 1765 or '66. He performed services in both the gaelic and English languages. (From Foote's Scetches of North Carolina, 1846)

John N. Campbell, D.D. (1798-1864)

Rev. John Poage Campbell, M.D. (1767-1814)

In April, 1801, he resigned a call that he had accepted from Union. He attended the first meeting of the Synod of Kentucky in 1802. He was dismissed to the Presbytery of Transylvania in meeting of Presbytery, 1804 at Washington, Kentucky, and removed from the neighborhood of Johnston's Fork meeting house to Danville and was, in Kentucky, a great power in contending for sound doctrine, during the time of the New Light troubles. In 1805-6, by direction of the General Assembly, he traveled through Northern Kentucky, with a view to regulate disorders and revive the spirits of desponding flocks and prevent so far as possible the people from accepting the errors pressed upon them by the New Light preachers. Against these he worked with voice and pen. In Presbytery, at Buckskin, April 1814, he was received into Washington/Chillicothe Presbytery , on a certificate from the Presbytery of West Lexington. In the Autumn of 1813, he had removed to Chillicothe, and was engaged in the preparation of a work to be called "Western Antiquities," but died November 4th, 1814. Davidson says that "Nassau Hall was about to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, when death prevented the intended honor."

He was a man of fine taste and devoted to criticism and belles-lettres. In early life he had a great reputation as a preacher, but his voice, which had never been strong, became so broken by preaching to large assemblies, in the open air, during the great revival, that it was painful for strangers to listlen to him, and this prevented him from getting such a situation as his talents would have commanded. He pulished a number of articles, mostly controvesial, and his friends thought it an irreparable loss, that he was prevented by death from finishing the work on which he was engaged. (From Rev. R.C. Galbraith's History of the Chillicothe Presbytery 1799-1889, Chillicothe: 1889)

Joseph Campbell, D.D. (1776-1840)

Rev. William Graham Campbell (1799-1881)

Rev. Hugh Carlisle (d. aft. 1742)

Rev. John Carmichael (1728-1785)

Mr. Carmichael was an eminently devout and earnest Christian, as well as an uncommonly laborious and faithful minister. The Rev. Dr. J.N.C. Grier , whose father as well as himself were successors of Mr. Carmichael at Brandywine Manor, says of him: "He was an eloquent man, in his day, and mighty in the Scriptures." He was a man of ardent feelings, and what he did, he did with his might. He was the pastor of this congregation during most of the American Revolution, and, like most Presbyterian clergymen of that day, he espoused the cause of his country, like one who would rather perish battling for freedoms, than live a slave. The congregation increased under his ministry, which lasted about twenty-four years. He died greatly respected and deeply lamented by his people, and having in all the churches of his Presbytery the reputation of a man thoroughly furnished for his work, one who needed not to be ashamed, because he rightly divided the word of truth."

James Carnahan, D.D. (1775-1859)

IN 1823 Dr. Carnahan was elected President of Princeton College, Dr. Green having resigned the year before. He remained in this eminent post for thirty years, presiding with dignity and honor. But in 1853, failing health and the increasing infirmities of age compelled him to resign. He remained a member of the board of trustees until his death. He died at his son in law's in Newark, March 3d, 1859.

Dr. Carnahan published a number of Baccalaureate Addresses and sermons, and some articles in earlier numbers of the Princeton Review; he also edited the Life of the Rev. John Johnson, of Newburgh, New York, in 1856. Though a forcible writer, with great perspicuity of style, he was very reluctant to appear as an author, so much so that he expressly stated in his will that none of his lectures or other manuscripts should be published. His funeral took place at Princeton, and his dust mingles with the dust of the mighty dead of Nassau Hall.

Rev. Samuel Carrick (b. 1760)

The circumstances of his death were impressive and startling. It was the season for the sacramental meeting in his church. He had spent much of the preceding night in preparatory thought and study. Very early in the morning he was seized with apoplexy, and in a few moments his spirit had taken its upward flight.

Daniel Lynn Carroll, D.D. (1797-1851)

William Carson (1794-1870)

Eli Washington Caruthers (1793-1865)

Dr. Caruthers never married, and his habits of life were those of a recluse, varied by some harmless eccentricities, superinduced by his lonely mode of life. As the successor Dr. Caldwell , the first pastor of the Guilford churches, he began early to collect documents and traditions concerning the early settlers, and the times of the Regulation and the Revolution. In 1842 he published in Greensboro, North Carolina, his "Life of David Caldwell, D.D." This book consists of but one chapter, three hundred octavo pages long, without a table of contents, an d with an index of half a page. It is really a mine of valuable historical information, but so undeveloped as to require the toil of the miner, the skill of the assayer and the art of the coiner to transform his nuggets into popular currency.

At a later date, Dr. Caruthers published two more volumes, containing Revolutionary incidents and sketches of character, entitled "The Old North State in 1776." These are well written, racy, entertaining contributions to North Carolina history.
 

Rev. Wheeler Case (b pre 1738)

Dr. Robert Cathcart (1759-1849)

Rev. Samuel Cavin (b. abt 1701-1750)

Jeremiah Chamberlain, D.D. (1794-1850)

In the Winter of 1822-23 he accepted a call to the Presidency of Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky, and by a vigorous cooperation of several philanthropic individuals with himself, the Institution, then in an incipient state, was placed upon a firm basis, and the buildings filled with students. he preached regularly during the whole time of his residence in Danville, and in connection with his labors a powerful revival of religion took place in the college, which extended many miles in the country. In the Winter of 1824-25, he resigned the Presidency of Centre College, and removed to Jackson, Louisiana, having accepted the same office in a State Institution in that place. This office he resigned in 1828, and opened an academy, for the instruction of youth, in a church edifice which he had erected in the same place at his own expense. He preached regularly while he was connected with the college, and organized a Presbyterian church where none had existed before. In 1830 he was elected President of Oakland College in Clairborne county, Mississippi, which was established through his influence, and was under the care and control of the Presbytery of Mississippi. Here he accomplished the most important work of his life, and prosperity attended his earnest, self-sacrificing, and persistent efforts, till Oakland College became a noble monument of his untiring zeal and Christian philanthropy. His eminently useful life was terminated by assassination, September 5th, 1850.

Rev. Robert Hett Chapman (1771-1833)

Benjamin Chase, D.D. (1789-1870)

In 1840 Dr. Chase was attacked by an aggravated and incurable bronchial affection; but though obliged to relinquish the use of his voice in public preaching, his labors in support of morals and religion continued to be abundant. He was the active and liberal friend of Oakland College, from its inception, and was for a while, after the death of Dr. Chamberlain , its acting president. His death occurred October 11th, 1870.

John Chester, D.D. (1785-1829)

Dr. Chester was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1823. He published several sermons.

William Chester, D.D. (1795-1865)

Rev. Benjamin Chestnut (b. pre 1730-1775)

Rev. John Flavel Clark (1784-1853)

Joseph Clark, D.D. (1751-1813)

Robert Clark (1774-1856)

Rev. John Close

Rev. James Coe (b. pre 1799)

Jonathan Cogswell, D.D. (1782-1864)

Rev. J.C. Coit (1799-1863)

For many years he gave his whole salary to Foreign and Domestic Missions. His example had also a very beneficent effect on his flock; the Cheraw Church became noted, under his pastorate, for its liberal contributions to the beneficent schemes of the Church.

Lyman Coleman, S.T.D. (1796-aft 1856)

Daniel Lewis Collier (1796-1869)

Hon. Oristus Collins (1792-aft 1884)

In this Church, Mr. Collins early became an elder and has continued such, through all its pastorates, down to the present time. He was an earnest advocate of Temperance, and a plea made by him was the first published Temperance document in that part of the State.

In 1837 he was called to the Bench, and became Judge of the Courts at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. While residing here, he was elected an elder in the First Presbyterian Church, and exerted an important influence in every good cause. Along with Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes and Hon. Thaddeus Stevens he was privy counselors to the administration of Governor Joseph Ritner. Though frequently importuned to allow his name to go before the people as a candidate for political preferment, he always modestly declined. Upon the transition of the Judgeship in Pennsylvania from the life tenure to periodic election he returned to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, where he resumed the practice of law, and took rank as a leading attorney of northern Pennsylvania.

In 1874, owing to diminished acuteness of hearing being then eighty-two years of age, he retired from the courts. The last ten years have been passed in the family of his son, Rev. C.J. Collins, at Rye, New York. And now, at the advanced age of ninety-two, he awaits the summons to higher courts. [1884].

Rev. Ira Condit (1772-1836)

Robert W. Condit, D.D. (1795-1871)

Rev. Benjamin Conkline (b pre 1738)

Rev. Hugh Conn (1685?-1752)

Amasa Converse, D.D. (1795-1872)

Col. Edward Cook (1741-1808)

Rev. Thomas Cooley (b. pre 1755)

Rev. Robert Cooper (1732-1805)

Although he entered the ministry late (at the age of thirty-three), he proved himself a wise master-builder, skillful in the orthotomoy of truth. Prior to the era of theological seminaries he had a little private Divinity school of his own, to which many young students repaired with profit, as Dr. McKnight , Dr. Joshua Williams, Dr. Francis Herron, etc. As a preacher Dr. Cooper was solid and instructive, without any pretentions to the graces of delivery. He was unhappily subject to hypochondria, which finally put an end to his public ministrations. It is gratifying that this calamity was not permitted to darken his last hours. His printed writings were a tract on "The Signs of the Times," and a sermon preached before the troops.

Rev. Joseph Copes (1765-1822)

Rev. Wait Cornwell (b pre 1770)

Rev. John Coulter (1784-1867)

Samuel Hanson Cox, D.D. LL.D. (1793-aft 1863)

In 1823 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Williams College, and in a communication to the New York Observer he ridiculed the honor, facetiously denominating its symbols "semi-lunar fardels." This epithet obtained a world-wide celebrity; but the Doctor, except by an occasional, bore the honor thrust upon him meekly, and the additional one of LL.D., from Marietta College, in 1855, and Columbia College, in 1863. Dr. Cox presided as Moderator of the New School General Assembly, in 1846. He was a successful preacher and an able writer. In addition to several interesting volumes he published numerous pamphlets and sermons. He was one of the originators of the New York Observer, and a valuable contributor.

Rev. John Craig

Rev. Alexander Craighead (d. 1766)

Mr. Craighead is said to have removed to Windy Cove, on Cowpasture River, in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1749. A large button wood tree, close to the river bank, marks the site where stood his humble cabin. About half a mile above stood his log church. He and his people went to the House of God fully equipped to meet any sudden attach of Indians. He joined New Castle Presbytery before the Fall of 1754. On Braddock's defeat his congregation fled from the frontier and a portion settled in North Carolina. Mr. Craighead met with Hanover Presbytery, September 2d, 1757, and in January, was sent to Rocky River, in North Carolina, and to other vacancies. He was called, in April, to Rocky River, and Mr. Richardson , on his way to labor among the Cherokees, was directed to install him. He died in March, 1766.

Rev. John Craighead (1742-1799)

The old church at Rocky Spring is still extant. Though somewhat altered, it retains substantially the pristine features. The aisles are paved with brick; the pews are straight-backed and of unpainted oak; the narrow pulpit, with its sounding-board, is painted light blue; the elders' bench, a thick slab of wood; the communion service, of pewter, from Londons, and black with age. Two ten plate stoves, of the most primitive form, warmed the house, the stove pipes ascending, through holes in the ceiling, into the garret, whence the smoke escaped, without any chimneys, the best was it could. The side door is still shown, where Mr. Craighead stood and harangued the men assembled in the churchyard, and so stirred up their patriotic feelings that they organized themselves into a company and went through the Revolutionary War, with their pastor for their captain and chaplain.

Mr. Craighead was a humorist. One day, going into battle in New Jersey with his friend and classmate, the Rev. Robert Cooper , a cannon ball struck a tree near him, a splinter of which nearly knocked him down. "God bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Cooper, "you were nearly knocked to staves." "Oh, yes," was his reply, "and, though you are a cooper , you could not have set me up."

Rev. Thomas Craighead (d. 1739)

In 1733 Mr. Craighead removed to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in September of that year he received and accepted a call to Pequea, where he was installed October 31st. Donegal Presbytery, of which he now became a member, always speak of him as "Father Craighead," and appear to have had a peculiar veneration and love for him. He was very active in planting and building up churches in that region.

[An unfortunate  incident in the manse at Pequea caused October 27, 1736, to become a most eventful day in Protestantism west of the Susquehanna River.  On a Saturday night some months earlier the elderly Thomas Craighead had broken the news to Mrs. Craighead that he had given permission for their son, John , and his family to move in with them.  As Craighead did not approve of her reaction, he assumed the session's prerogative and on the next day forbade her to take communion.  As done in Scotland, forbidding admission to communion was facilitated when at the entrance to the crude communion table, each communicant had to present a smal metal communion token.  The session, however, backed Mrs. Craighead, but her husband-pastor remained adamant and unrepentant.  By Septermber 1736, the congregation was in such an uproar that Presbytery suddenly terminated the pastoral relationship at Pequea, thus permitting Thomas Craighead to gain a place in history as the first full-time minister in the Susquehanna Valley.  In October Craighead was assigned two Sabbaths "at Conedeguioinot" before also being "appointed to supply that people" for the five months before the April meeting.  From The Evolution of Ten Pre-1745 Presbyterian Societies in the Cumberland Valley by William T. Swaim, 1985]

On the 17th of November, 1737, he accepted a call from the people of Hopewell, whose place of meeting was at "the Big Spring," now Newville. His pastorate there was only of short duration. He was now an aged man, though his earnestness and power remained unabated. Under his impassioned discourses his hearers were often melted to tears. Near the close of April, 1739, whilst pronouncing the benediction in the pulpit, he waved his had, exclaimed "Farewell! Farewell!" and sank down and expired. His remains are said to lie, without a monument, under the corner-stone of the present [1884] house of worship at Newville.

Rev. Thomas Craighead (d. aft 1802)

Rev. Thomas B. Craighead(d. 1825)

Rev. Edward Crawford (b. pre 1756)

Rev. James Crawford (d. aft 1802)

S.W. Crawford, D.D. (1796-1876)

Rev. Robert Cross (1689-1766)

Samuel Crothers, D.D. (1783-1856)

John Finley Crowe, D.D. (1787-1860)

In 1827 he founded Hanover Academy, under the auspices of Madison Presbytery, which in 1833 became Hanover College . He continued in connection with this Institution till his death, January 17th, 1860. He was the editor and manager of the Abotiltion Intelligencer and Missionary Magazine, published at Shelbyville, Kentucky, one of the earliest magazines of the kind published in this country, in 1822-23; and left a manuscript History of Hanover College.

Two of his sons became ministers, and four of his daughters became ministers' wives, one of whom was a missionary in China.

Rev. Alexander Cumming (1726-1763)

In feeble health and with little prospect of usefulness, Mr. Cumming remained without charge till February 25th, 1761, when he was installed pastor at the Old South Church, in Boston. He died August 23rd, 1763.
 

Rev. Charles Cummings (pre 1746-1812)

The following is extracted from a sketch of Rev. Mr. Cummings by ex-Governor Campbell: "Having accepted the call, he removed with his family, purchased land in the neighborhood of where Abingdon now stands, and settled upon it. His first meeting house at Sinking Spring was a very large cabin of unhewn logs, from eighty to one hundred feet long, by about forty wide. . . . Mr.Cummings was of middle statue, about five feet ten inches high, well set and formed, possessing great firmness and dignity of character. His voice was strong and had great compass; his articulation was clear and distinct. Without apparent effort he could speak to be heard by ten thousand people. His mind was good without any brilliancy. He understood his system well, spoke always with gravity, and required it from all who sat under the sound of his voice. . . . When he came to Holston he was about forty years of age.

"At this time the Indians were very troublesome, and continued to be for several years; and generally during the summer months, the families for safety were obliged to collect together in forts. The one to which he always carried his family was on the land of Captain Jos. Black and stood on the first knoll on the knob road south of Abingdon. In the month of July, 1776, when his family were in the fort, and he with a  servant and wagon and three neighbors were going to his farm, the party were attached by Indians, a few hundred yards from the meeting house. Creswell, who was driving the wagon, was killed at the first fire of the Indians, and during the skirmish the other two neighbors were wounded. Mr. Cummings and his servant man, Job, both of whom were well armed, drove the Indians from their ambush, and with the aid of some men from the fort, who, hearing the fire, came to their relief, brought in the dead and wounded.

"In his early ministry he became possessed of a valuable library; and appears to have been devoted to his work as a minister of the gospel. .. . He preached for many years and until far advanced in life to one of the largest, most respectable and most intelligent congregations ever assembled in western Virginia.  "Mr. Cummings was a zealous whig, and contributed much to kindle the patriotic fire which blazed forth so brilliantly among the people of the Holston in the war of the Revolution. He was the first named on the list of the Committee of Safety for Fincastle county, and after the formation of Washington county, 1776, he was chairman of the Committee of Safety of that county, and took an active part in all its measures. Mr. Cummings died in March, 1812, in about the eightieth year of his age, leaving many and most respectable descendants. He was a sincere and exemplary Christian, and a John Knox in his energy and zeal in support of his own church. He never lost sight of his object and always marched directly up to it with a full front. He performed a great deal of missionary labor through an extensive district of country, beyond his own large field. The fruits still remain. . . . In the expedition against the Cherokees in 1776, Mr. Cummings accompanied the forces from Holston, and preached at the different stations now included in the State of Tennessee; and in this way was the first minister of the gospel in that State."

Summers' Southwest Virginia says that Mr. Cummings is accredited with the honor of having drafted the Fincastle resolutions which were adopted Jan. 20, 1775; and that he assisted in drafting the petition from the Hanover Presbytery to the General Assembly of Virginia asking for the separation of the Church and State, in October, 1776.

He married  on February 13, 1766 Millicent Carter, daughter of Thomas Carter, Gentlemen, of Lancaster county, who was born in Lancaster, Aug 9, 1743.  Rev. Charles and Millicent Carter Cummings had issue:  John Cummings, born August 24, 1767. Never married,  Thomas Cummings, born Oct. 1, 1768. Was educated for the ministry, but died young, unmarried, Sarah Cummings, born March 15, 1770,  Mary Cummings, born Dec. 15, 1771,. James Cummings, born Nov. 9, 1773, died Aug. 1, 1840, Charles Cummings, born May 10, 1776. Never married, Millicent Cummings, born Jan. 27, 1778,. Nancy Cummings, born Nov. 30, 1779, died in childhood,  Robert Cummings, born May 16, 1781, Elizabeth Cummings, born April 16, 1783, died in infancy, George Cummings, born May 14, 1784, died in infancy,  William Cummings, born Oct. 7, 1788. Never married. From The Descendants of Captain Thomas Carter, by Joseph L. Miller (1912)

Charles Cummins, D.D. (1776-aft 1852)

Francis Cummins, D.D. (1752-1832)

While Mr. Cummins was engaged in teaching, he prosecuted his theological studies, under the direction of the Rev. (afterwards Dr.) James Hall . He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Orange, December 15th, 1780. During the year 1781 he preached at Hopewell and various other places, and in the Spring of 1782, accepted a call from Bethel Church, in the adjacent district of York, South Carolina, where he was ordained, toward the close of that year. In the Spring of 1788, while residing at Bethel, both as the pastor of a church and teacher of the youth, he was elected by the people of York, as a member of the South Carolina Convention called to decide upon the Constitution of the United States, and though all his colleagues were for rejecting it, he voted in its favor. Dr. Cummins died February 22d, 1832, expressing the utmost gratitude that he had been permitted to preach the gospel.

Robert M. Cunningham, D.D. (d. 1839)

Rev. Jonathan Peter Cushing (1793-1835)

Rev. John Cutherbertson (d 1791)

By Miss S. Helen Fields, Washington, D.C.
...
Into the midst of these distressed but brave people came John Cuthbertson, sent by the Presbytery of Scotland because of their leading for an Under Shepherd.  He set foot on American soil at New Castle, Delaware, August 5, 1751.  With him came his sister, Mrs. Archibald Bourne, with her husband and infant son John, and a colony of Covenanters.  Mr. Cuthbertson was the First Reformed  Presbyterian Missionary to come to America.  Young, fearless, and imbued with a God-like spirit, he began his work without delay, and throughout the years strubbled long distances on horseback and on foot (usually from his headquarters at Middle Octorara, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) over mountain and stream, to bring consolation to his fellow countrymen and to others.  He frequently speaks of being cold, sick, hungry, distressed in body and mind, molested, but still never faltered in the task he had set before him.  We find him, old and broken, carrying on up to a few months before his death in 1791.  Thanks to Bill Patterson for providing this information.

Cornelius C. Cuyler, D.D. (1783-1850)